Turning A New Leaf
by Fluffy Green Thing
Summary: James and Lily live AU. Harry is almost as sassy as James was, he has amazing friends and a loving family, but there are forces who still want to cause him pain. How will he deal with it when he has a supportive family standing behind him?
1. Killer in the Night

Chapter 1

It was All Hallows Eve in Godric's Hollow, where the Potters lived, James, Lily and their infant son, Harry. It was a very quiet night at their house, because they were in hiding. There was a prophecy made about the Potters and people took some safety measures to keep them out of harm's way. Only a selected few knew where the Potter's lived so it was a surprise to them when the door was blasted of its hinges.

"Lily, take Harry and run! I'll try and hold him off!" Yelled James while he ran to see who entered using such extreme measures. Lily ran outside to the neighbor's yard and apparated to the Headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix, where she and Harry would be safe. James, while holding his wand protectively in front of him, ran to the foyer and saw the Darkest Lord of all time. Lord Voldemort was known and feared for all the abuse towards Muggleborns and Muggle supporters. James and Lily were Voldemort's top targets because of the prophecy and they had also thwarted him 3 times.

"What are you doing here?" asked James. He was furious that Voldemort was threatening his family. He knew the Fidelius Charm is foolproof unless the Secret-Keeper told someone of the location. He swore when he realized that their Secret-Keeper, Peter Pettigrew, supposedly one of James' best friends, had betrayed their house to this evil man who was out to get them.

"Why so rude to the man who can kill you faster than a blink of your eye, Potter?" said Voldemort cheekily. He was trying to provoke James into doing something he wouldn't normally do. He had a strange kind of glint in his eyes. Like a child opening Christmas presents.

"I asked you before. Why are you here?" said James angrily. It was clear that this guy was pushing his buttons.

"A little bird told me something about a prophecy concerning your son. I am here to kill him, is all."

"But why? What has an infant ever done to you?"

"Ah, it's not what he has done but what he is going to do, if I don't stop him. Now move boy." snarled the villain.

"Hold on a second. Is that all you care about? Being the most powerful being on this Earth? Killing INFANTS to get there? That is just SICK! I can't think of a single sane person who does that. Well that explains it, you are CLEARLY not sane." Smirked James. He looked like he had something up his sleeve, he wanted to stall and distract his opponent long enough to escape and obliviate him so he forgets everything.

"You dare-"

"Yes, I dare. Now think about it, are you so heartless that you don't care about all the children, siblings, parents that have lost someone." James was looking very hopeful right at that moment. He sincerely hoped that that held his attention at least for a second, enough to actually give him time to think about something else, more helpful than the previous statement.

"You think I care about those people? They are Muggleborns! Nobody cares about them!" screeched Voldemort in anger. He couldn't believe that some boy could irritate him so much.

"Is there something wrong with that?" innocently asked James, as if he had never heard of Voldemort's intentions with Muggleborns. "Muggleborns are people too, they just have different heritage. Lily is a Muggleborn. Her parents, MUGGLES, are just the same as any wizard I have ever met. If anything, they are more hard-working than any wizard I have met because they have to function without magic on a day to day basis." Even though Voldemort opened his mouth to interrupt, James continued talking. "They can't just 'accio' what ever they want or 'reparo' something. They have a tough life as it is, without you making it harder. So why don't you just get lost and retract everything you did."

Lord Voldemort contemplated his statement. It was true, they had a tough life. But even if he did retract, he would lose the respect he has earned from his faithful Deatheaters, the fear in peoples heart's would be gone and the world would be the same as before. And for what? So he could spare a few Muggleborns, Muggles and other wizards? Just because some pureblood told him to? That seemed foreign to him, taking orders from someone below him. It seemed unnatural, wrong, and in a way, pathetic.

Even though he wasn't entirely happy with his answer he asked the young man in front of him a question that would haunt him for years.

"And how exactly would I do that?"

While James was reasoning with Voldemort, Lily and Harry escaped to Grimmauld Place, where James' best friend Sirius Black lived. He was James' oldest and closest friend of the group they called the 'Marauders'. In it there where 4 boys; James Potter, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew. They were the greatest group of pranksters Hogwarts had seen so far. They used James' invisibility cloak to roam around school after curfew and with the help of the Marauder's Map, which they invented, they didn't run into any teachers, or the evil caretaker Filch.

Lily tapped the ground three times and the house appeared from its hiding place, no longer being under captivity of the Fidelius Charm. When the door opened, Sirius looked anxious to see them there.

"Come in!" said he as he ushered them inside. "Where's James, Lily?" Just by looking at his face, Lily could tell he was truly scared for his best friend.

"He stayed back. He told me to save Harry. I apparated here, the only safe place I know." Said Lily sadly. The Wizarding War was really affecting everyone badly.

"He stayed back? Wi-With…Voldemort?" said Sirius, pure horror seen on his face. He had heard of the Dark Lord's 'achievements', if you can call them that.

Lily simply nodded and went to the kitchen to feed baby Harry.

Since no one knew what to say after that, they sat in silence, drinking tea that Lily had kindly prepared.

Hours had passed on end, with no news from James. Lily was starting to worry but Sirius was already freaking out.

"What if something happened- I will never forgive myself- Poor Harry," After shooting a pitying look at Harry, who was asleep in Lily's arms, he continued his ramblings.

Suddenly, the doorbell rang. Sirius raced to the door and jumped on his best friend, seeing that he was alive and unharmed.

"Prongs, What happened? How did you get out of there alive? What happened?" He shouted frantically. Lily, who just walked in on the scene, holding an awake Harry in her arms, was leaning on the wall, smirking at Sirius. When he calmed down, Lily handed Harry over to his godfather and went forward to James. He stood there with open arms and they just stood there, cuddled as if there was no tomorrow.

When they actually got over the fact that James was alive, they started to question him.

"What did he do?"

"How did out get out of there alive?"

"What was he like?"

"What happened?"

"Whoa, guys. One at a time." Said James, amused.

"Don't you smirk at me James Potter. You had me completely freaked out." Fumed Sirius. He was very protective of his best friend, as he knew what they had gotten in to during their Hogwarts days. Except this wasn't Hogwarts. This was real life, far more dangerous than a boarding school.

"Padfoot, relax. As you can see I am _fine_. There is no reason to worry." Stressed James. Sirius was never known for his calm. "Give me a second and I will explain EVERYTHING."

They listened patiently as he explained how he 'beat' the darkest wizard of all time.

"I never knew he had any compassion left in him. I guess no one had talked long enough to find out." Remarked Lily. She knew that she could never be able to do that because of her blood status, and even though she tried not to think about it, it still stung that people were discriminated against because of their magic or rather lack of. Her sister, Petunia had wanted to go to Hogwarts ever since Lily had gotten a letter to it. She even sent a letter to the Headmaster, Albus Dumbledore.

"Well are you SURE he's gone? I mean, we ARE dealing with You-Know-Who." Asked Sirius.

"I think so but you can never be too sure." Replied James. He was growing slightly tired of their questions and even though he knew that they needed to be clued in, he just wanted to sleep.

Seeing her husband's tired face, Lily said,"Ok, we'll talk about that later, as James needs to rest, but I have one last question. How did he find out where we lived? I mean we were under the Fidelius."

"Oh, that's easy. Wormtail. He ratted us out." Instantly said James. He had been considering all the facts since Voldemort showed up. "We change our secret keeper and the next day, Voldemort shows up at our door. Coincidence? Probably not."

"Do you have any proof that it isn't him? I mean Peter was always a sweet boy." Defended Lily. She had known Wormtail since they were 11, and he was always the little puppy dog admiring James and Sirius as they pranked the whole school.

"Nope, but I've got plenty that proves he's guilty. Now if you'll excuse me, I'd like to take a long nap. I don't know about you but debating for my life really takes it out of me." said James as he retreated upstairs and wasn't seen for quite a while.

They stared at his retreating form, trying to think about all that has happened in 24 hours.


	2. The Aftermath

Chapter 2

The next few days were relatively calm, no random attacks on the house but several members of the Order did drop by to check up on them and find out what happened. There were too many rumors going around describing what happened than night. Dumbledore, the head of the Order of the Phoenix, decided that it would be safer if all the members of the Order would go it to hiding. He ended up being correct as a group with Death Eaters attacked the Longbottom house and the same thing happened with the McKinnons. Nothing new was heard until there was a reluctant knock on the door. James opened it since he was closest to the door and was shocked to see their visitor; Lord Voldemort, again.

"Yes? How may I be of assistance?" asked James with mocking politeness. The Dark Lord looked torn, and weak. James thought the Voldemort couldn't do anything to him so he would enjoy this.

"Let me enter, for one. I need your help. Are you alone?" asked Voldemort.

"Umm, okay, I guess?" said James as he led the way to the tea room.

When they were seated, James called Kreacher, Sirius' house elf, to bring them some tea. 5 minutes the tea was poured and Voldemort started talking.

"After I left Godric's Hollow, I went to a place by the sea. It brought back memories of my childhood. I thought about my life. I am a disaster." Voldemort put his hands on his head. "I don't know my purpose in life. All I know is how to kill people and extract information from them, whatever means necessary. But I don't want to go into anything evil anymore. You've got to help me."

James considered the idea. Helping a madman, the most evil person ever. This was crazy! But he knew since the man in front of him had spared his life, he should do SOMETHING.

"Ok, I will. Do you, erm, want to … talk?" Asked James, as he felt kind of awkward talking to this ex-villain about feelings. "Is it just going to be us two, or we can ask my wife, Lily, to come. She's good with emotions." He added nervously

"No. It has to be kept between us. Nothing I say must leave this room, got that?"

"Yeah sure. Got it."

"I would normally go around killing people but I haven't been feeling so evil lately." Confessed Voldemort

If you were listening outside the room, pressed up against the door, all you would hear was quite murmurs as Voldemort opened up his heart, or lack thereof, to James. By the end of their one-on-one, Voldemort was crying and James was handing him tissues, reassuring him that everything will be OK.

"How do you know that everything will be okay?" sobbed Voldemort. He was in a very fragile place in his life right now. If you said the wrong thing to him, the floodgates would burst open and you would be the one who has to deal with the aftermath. "I mean, I have been horrible to these people. Worse than that. I have been a what-do-you-call-it? A douche bag." He hung his head in shame. "How can I start over? Everyone hates me!" That brought on a new wave of tears. "I mean I try so hard to make people like me but I learned something. Killing people doesn't make them like you, it just makes them dead."

James, still feeling uneasy about his situation, said the first thing that came to mind. "Well, you know that's kind of the point. When you kill people, they die. They aren't with us anymore, except if you come back as a ghost or something but most don't."

Voldemort just started sobbing again. James not knowing what to do handed him a few tissues.

After a few hours of this meaningful conversation, Voldemort finally stopped crying.

"I know what I have to do. I have to start again. I figure that if I destroy all my Horcruxes, I will be back to normal and I could start again. I could finally start living like a normal person." He concluded with a smile, a truly genuine smile, as if he was ecstatic about being 'reborn' in a way.

"Ok but I have one question. What's a Horcrux?" asked James

"Don't they teach you that in school already?" asked Voldemort. " A Horcrux is when a wizard takes a piece of his soul after killing someone and puts it in an object. It makes you immortal unless they Horcruxes are destroyed. I have 6 of them and I blame them for my unappealing appearance."

"Erm, okay? Thanks for stopping by, I guess."

"No thank you, James. You helped me realize what I couldn't comprehend by myself." And with that he left James perplexed as to what just happened.

A few minutes after Voldemort left, Lily came in with more tea and crumpets.

"Hey. Are you ok?" she asked. They had been in that room for quite a while. She was slightly anxious and paced the room while Sirius was entertaining Harry, which was distracting enough for both boys.

"Yeah, I guess. Just weird." Said James. He definitely was not used to crying people who open their heart to him. "I'm not used to this…openness with people I barely know. Especially an ex-villain."

"James, are you positive he's gone? I can't go through this again. I hate the feeling of terror and hiding." Confessed Lily. Even though she was a Gryffindor, she was still afraid for her family.

"Lil, it's going to be OK." Assured James. He hated seeing his wife upset. "He told me he has changed. He is going to do something for our side. It's going to be okay."

They shared a few meaningful moments, just holding each other. After they called Kreacher to clean the room up, they went upstairs to play with Harry and explain the situation to Sirius.

That was the beginning of a new era. The next day, all the papers said that the Death Eaters were summoned into the Ministry by Voldemort and arrested on the spot. Severus Snape, Lily's childhood friend, was saved from life at Azkaban by Dumbledore, who said that Severus was a double agent for him, and will teach Potions class at Hogwarts. Lily breathed a sigh of relief when she read that her first magical friend wasn't going to Azkaban. Even though they hadn't talked in years, she still held a soft spot for him.

Every Death Eater had a trial in front of the whole Wizengamot. A lot of them had made a big dramatic scene, trying to prove that they had nothing to do with Voldemort, however 4 of them didn't. Bellatrix Lestrange, Her husband Rodolphus , his brother Rabastan and Barty Crouch Jr. and these 4 said that they will remain his loyal supporters whenever he wants to come back. Voldemort went right up to them and vowed not to returned to the Dark Sideever again.

After his outburst in Wizard Court, he then went on to give a full interview about how and why he changed. The Potters were mentioned quite a few times. There was a photo of the three of them as well.

James and Lily were proud of what they did; They saved the Wizarding world. And they were blissfully happy, ready to raise their son, unafraid of what could be out there. They were a normal family like any other.


	3. 10 Years Later

**A/N: Thank you for reading, favoriting and subscribing to my story. You have no idea how much this means to me. :)**

Chapter 3

It had been nearly ten years since everything changed. Voldemort had formally renounced his title and went back to Tom Riddle, decided that Muggles were not that bad. He had also destroyed all the Horcruxes, restoring his previous appearance. He was much more pleasant to be around, now that he looked human again. The Wizarding World was finally calm, no more mysterious disappearances, killings or anything bad.

The Potters went back to live in Godric's Hollow, after fixing the place up a bit. They got fan mail practically every day from people that appreciated what they did. If you didn't count all that, then the Potters had a normal life. James had persuaded Lily to let Harry on a broom just after they returned from Grimmauld Place and the youngster was flying around the house constantly.

Harry soon became friends with the neighbor Muggle and Magical children, and even the children of other Magical families in different parts of Britain. Harry was friendly with all the Magical families even the kids of ex-Death Eaters. Harry didn't judge people unless they give him personally a reason to. The only people Harry isn't fond of are the 2 youngest Weasley children. They had sent him countless letters admiring him and he had actually met them in person and he knew that they thought nothing of him except a celebrity. The boy, Ronald, was a self-centered little boy. Their only daughter, Ginevra, had a look of pure admiration on her face. She looked like she was obsessed with him, a quality that Harry, having been taught to be humble, did not appreciate. He had met the twins, the pranksters of the family. They had made him laugh on multiple occasions and they shared their ambitions with him and he said that if they needed help, they could ask him anytime. He was slightly upset when they left to go to Hogwarts, but he still saw them occasionally over the holidays.

Harry and Hermione, his best friend, went to a Muggle elementary school, where they had met. Lily had insisted on letting Harry interact with Muggles to prevent him from being mean to the Muggleborns. She knew that Harry would never do that but she wanted him to have a similar upbringing as she did.

Lily and James also had 2 other children, two daughters, Harriet and Hannah. Harriet was a year younger than Harry and was a miniature copy of Lily, but with James' personality. She was a great prankster, just like her father. He had influenced her personality as well as her uncles Remus and Sirius. What most people didn't know was that Lily was already expecting Harriet when Tom showed up at their house. She was born on the 2nd of December 1981. She was the bookworm of the family, always reading something new. Her favorites were mystery novels and fantasy fiction stories.

Hannah, on the other hand, was a miniature James, but, like her brother, had her mother's eyes and personality. She was the youngest, 3 years younger than Harry. She was everyone's little princess and always got what she wanted. She was a very sporty girl. She played both Magical and Muggle sports. Even though she was so sporty, she was just as smart as her sister. Her birthday was on the 4th of March, 1983. Even though they were different, they loved each other a lot.

One day just before Harry's 11th birthday, the got a letter by owl post. It was addressed to Harry J. Potter. James' eyes widened when he saw the Hogwarts coat of arms.

"Harry! Mail for you!" James shouted up the stairs. He was just as excited as any kid on Christmas. His son was finally going to his previous school, the place where he had met some of his best friends and the love of his life.

Harry ran down the stairs as fast as his legs would take him. He was shouting things like "MAIL!" and "Hogwarts!" as he ran, followed soon by his little sisters.

Harry was a small boy, with knobby knees and untamable, raven black hair. He was a miniature of his father, glasses and everything but his eyes, he had inherited from his mother.

"Here you go, champ." Smiled James as he presented Harry his Hogwarts letter.

"Read it out, sweetheart." Encourage Lily. She had never doubted that James Potter's son would go to Hogwarts, but it was exciting nonetheless.

"Read it! Read it!" chanted Harry's sisters. They were just as excited as he was about Hogwarts. They knew they were going to go to Hogwarts in a few years.

_"HOGWARTS SCHOOL  
of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY" Read Harry,_

__

"Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore  
(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock,  
Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. of Wizards)

Dear Mr. Potter,

We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment.  
Term begins on September 1. We await your owl by no later than July 31.

Yours sincerely,

Minerva McGonagall  
Deputy Headmistress

HOGWARTS SCHOOL  
of WHICHCRAFT and WIZARDRY

UNIFORM  
First-year students will require:  
sets of plain work robes (black)  
plain pointed hat (black) for day wear  
pair of protective gloves (dragon hide or similar)  
winter cloak (black, with silver fastenings)  
Please note that all pupil's clothes should carry name tags.

COURSE BOOKS  
All students should have a copy of each of the following:

The Standard Book of Spells (Grade 1)  
by Miranda Goshawk

A History of Magic by Bathilda Bagshot

Magical Theory by Adalbert Waffling

A Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration by Emeric Switch

One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi  
by Phyllida Spore

Magical Drafts and Potions by Arsenius Jigger

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them  
by Newt Scamander

The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection  
by Quentin Trimble

OTHER EQUIPMENT

1 wand  
1 cauldron (pewter, standard size 2)  
1 set glass or crystal phials  
1 telescope  
1 set brass scales

Students may also bring and owl OR a cat OR a toad.

_PARENTS ARE REMINDED THAT FIRST YEARS ARE NOT ALLOWED THEIR OWN BROOMSTICKS"_

"Well then. I think that requires a trip to Diagon Alley" said James. He was amused by how excited his children were. He remembered that he was the same way when he first got his letter. "It's just terribly unfortunate that first-years aren't allowed to bring their own broom. I would have had to look at Quality Quidditch Supplies while in Diagon Alley. I hear that they have a new model broom coming out. The Nimbus 2000." James smiled at the excitement in his son's eyes. The girls looked just as excited at this prospect.

When they arrived to the Leaky Cauldron, the barman, Tom, greeted them warmly.

"First year at Hogwarts?" He asked warmly. "3rd brick up, second across. Enjoy."

This was magical for the Potter children. Even though they had been to Diagon Alley before, this was the first time they had actually gone through the magical gateway. This was a brand new experience for them.

When they entered the busy street, they were amazed at all the things they saw. Many children with their parents, most likely shopping for their Hogwarts books and equipment. There were vendors on either side of the street yelling things like "…for 15 sickles! It's a steal!" and "You can't find an offer like this anywhere else!"

"Let's got to Gringotts first, so we can go and get you a trunk, Harry. After that, we can just shrink it and put all your books, robes and things in there so we don't have to carry them." Winked James. He was always trying to simplify even the simplest things.

After getting a trunk, the first place they went to was Flourish and Blotts to get all the books. While there, Harry saw one of his friends.

"Hermione! What are you doing here? Did you get a Hogwarts letter as well?" Asked Harry, excited as his best friend was going to go to the same school as him.

"Yeah! I got my letter this morning! I can't believe I am a witch! I mean, it sounds so impossible, but I am!" squealed Hermione. She was as excited as anything.

"Did you get your books already?" asked Harry.

"No, not yet. We need to find a shop assistant to get them because this store is too big." Motioning to her parents who were looking at a book about Jinxes and hexes.

"Let's stick together, we are going to the same school after all." Smiled Harry as he led Hermione to the nearest shop assistant and asked for 2 copies of all the books on the list. After they had found all the books on their lists, they went to look at some books for some extra reading. Harry picked a couple out on Quidditch, his favorite Wizard sport and some comic books about Martin the Muggle. Hermione picked a book on nearly every subject. Her defense was that as a Muggleborn, she should read up on everything she might to know.

After that, they went to Madam Malkin's Robe shop. As there was already someone there, Harry and Hermione had to wait. Madam Malkin told them one of them could go and get fitted. Hermione told Harry to go first, as she was already reading one of her books. Both families were drinking some tea in a nearby café and told the two almost first-years to get all their stuff on their own.

As Harry climbed onto the podium to get fitted, he noticed a pale, blonde boy with a pointy face and grey, icy eyes on the one next to him. It was his close friend, Draco Malfoy.

"Harry, is that you?" asked Draco. The Malfoys had been on vacation abroad and the two friends hadn't seen each other for a while. "Merlin, you've grown. Hogwarts as well, huh?" smirked Draco.

"You never change, do you?" replied Harry with an equal smirk. "But yes, I suppose I have grown a bit, but yeah. Hogwarts as well."

The two friends caught up on everything while Madam Malkin fitted their robes.

"Alright, then Mr. Malfoy. You're good to go." Madam Malkin said as she dismissed him.

Harry, however got a word in before Draco left.

"Hey Draco, you remember my friend Hermione, right? My neighbor."

"I think so. The one with the big hair right?"

"Yeah, that's the one. She's in the waiting room. Keep her company while I'm getting my robes."Said Harry as Madam Malkin forced him to turn around and try the robe on.

Even though Hermione was a Muggleborn (supposedly a Muggle until today), Draco still treated her friendly. He was taught that Muggleborns and Muggles are the same as Wizards since Voldemort's downfall. His father had no influence on him as he was in Azkaban with every other Death Eater.

"So you're the Granger girl." Smirked Draco. He always greeted Hermione like this, as if he didn't know her. "The neighbor of the Potters is a witch! Guess they are rubbing off on you."

"Draco!" Yelled Hermione out of surprise because he had scared her. When she realized that this was one of her closest friends, she dropped the book she was reading and ran into his arms, giving him a big, bear hug, AKA Hermione hug.

"Aw Herms, I didn't know you missed me that much." Joked Draco. He had, in fact, missed her a lot, when he travelled Europe with his mother.

"Of course I did, you big lug! You are one of my best friends!" exclaimed Hermione, still hugging him. She had missed him a lot. Even though she had hung out with the Potters all summer, it still wasn't the same without Draco. He always added the sarcastic edge that was needed, be it "Thank you Captain Obvious" or "Good job, that's what we have tried to _stop_ but that's fine too I guess." Either way, life was never boring with Draco.

"So what have you been up to lately, Herms?" asked Draco. He wondered how interesting their summer was without him. That would help him decide whether or not he would leave his best friends alone for that long. Because honestly, he was slightly bored and unhappy without his friends.

"Well, nothing of importance. I just hung out with the Potters. Harry kept playing mini-Quidditch with his dad in the field near their house and so I hung out with Harriet and Hannah. It was boring without you though." Confessed Hermione. Ever since she was young, she had though Draco was cute and had a slight crush on him. That blonde hair, those grey eyes, that adorable smirk… She really did like him.

"Aw Herms!" said Draco as he hugged her.

They talked for a few minutes about everything and anything until Draco looked at his watch and saw that he had to go.

"Sorry Hermione, but I have to go. We can maybe meet up later at the Leaky Cauldron or at the latest, on the Hogwarts Express. I'll save you guys a cabin so we can talk." And with that he left.

Soon after, Harry had come out with all his fitted robs, saying it was Hermione's time. She was already thinking of all the new things she would learn at Hogwarts.

When she had finished, Harry was waiting for her to go get their wands from Ollivander's. Hermione went first and found a 10 3/4" vine, with a dragon heartstring core wand relatively quickly. Harry on the other hand took a while and Ollivander talked to him about his parents and their wands. Both kids were slightly creeped out by his ability to remember every wand he ever sold. After trying out different wands Harry finally found an 11" holly, phoenix feather core. After they paid the old man, they went to Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour to get a cone each and one for each of Harry's sisters.

When they entered the Leaky Cauldron, they saw their families immediately. They were occupying the biggest table there, what with 6, now 8, people; they needed a lot of space. As they sat down, they gave Harriet and Hannah their ice cream and ordered a hot chocolate each. They then told their families about everything they had bought and seen. The Grangers were astonished at all the magical things. They couldn't believe that these things actually exist.

As they kids were finished shopping for school, they all went back to Godric's Hollow for dinner and were excited for Harry and Hermione's first day of Hogwarts.


	4. The Hogwarts Express

Chapter 4

It was finally the day Harry and Hermione were going to Hogwarts. A month had passed since they got their letters and they could not wait. They had been reading up on all their course books and quizzed each other daily. They had high aspirations to be the top of their year. Lily and the Grangers couldn't be prouder. James, however, supported his son but reminded him that there was more to Hogwarts than studying.

As the two families got ready to go to King Cross Station, Harry and Hermione received presents from their families. They were owls, a snowy white one for Harry, which he named Hedwig, and a chocolate brown one for Hermione, which she named Elyon, a name she had heard on a muggle television show. Both families drove to King Cross, as Lily had insisted that they buy a car because as much as she loved magic, she liked to take a break from it occasionally and do things the muggle way.

They got to King Cross half an hour before the train left. They thought it was plenty of time to get on to the platform and train, with some extra time to socialize with the other parents. When they had found two trolleys and stacked their trunks on them, they walked in the direction of Platform 9 and 10.

"What platform does your ticket say the train leaves from?" asked Dan Granger, Hermione's dad.

"My ticket says Platform 9 and ¾. But surely it must be wrong. I mean, I have never seen a sign for a Platform 9 and ¾!" exclaimed Hermione. Even though she was aware of all the peculiar things wizards tended to do, she was still slightly miffed.

"Well I guess you never looked in the right places." Joked James. He remembered his Hogwarts days with great clarity and wanted his son to have a wonderful time, so he thought he would tease the first-years while he could. "I am just joking. The Platform is hidden from Muggles so we have to be sneaky when we get on it. All you have to do is-"

He was rudely interrupted by the Weasley family, who were all disorganized and yelling all about the station about their forgotten properties. Their mother, Molly, was trying to tell them to get onto the platform quickly.

"Percy first." She said and an uptight looking boy ran though the wall between Platforms 9 and 10. The children were amazed that he didn't crash into the wall, that he just went through!

"Fred, you next."

"I'm not Fred, I'm George," said the boy, who Harry recognized as Fred Weasley."Honestly, woman, call yourself our mother. Can't you tell I'm George?"

"Sorry, George, dear."

"Only joking, I am Fred," said the boy, and off he went. His twin called after him to hurry up, and he must have done, because a second later, he had gone – but how had he done it?

Then there were only two children left, the two youngest; Ronald and Ginevra, the two Harry could not stand because they acted as though he was a celebrity, not a real person. And sure enough, once they noticed him, they started pointing and Harry could hear the girl whispering to her mother, "Mum, it's Harry Potter! Can we go over and say hi? Please Mum!" and the boy just stood there, gawking at him. Since they weren't moving forward, James pushed Harry along, telling him to run through the barrier. When everyone left, and it was Harry's turn to go through, he turned to the Weasleys, who were still gawking at him, and simply said "You know, it's rude to point." And then he left the family standing awkwardly on the other side. Running through was weird to say the least. Every bone in his body was telling him to stop otherwise he would get hurt but he just kept increasing his speed until he was at the other side, looking at the crowded Platform.

There were children, adults and elders of nearly every age. The first few carriages were full with people, some hanging out windows talking to family, some fighting over seats. As Harry looked for his family, he passed round-faced boy who was saying, "Gran, I've lost my toad again."

"Oh _Neville_," he heard the old woman sigh.

Harry found his family looking at him from a little way away, and he pushed trolley towards his friends and family.

"This place is amazing!" he exclaimed. Even though he had been brought up in both worlds, he still found magic interesting.

"What do you expect from wizards Harry? They always go slightly over the top." Giggled Hermione.

"The train is leaving in 15 minutes, we better get you kids on the train." Said James. They quickly put the trunks on the train and found the kids a compartment to stay in. Harry's little sisters were in a daze, just imagining themselves going to Hogwarts. Lily was fussing with Harry, giving him some money and packed sandwiches for the journey. James was talking to the Grangers about living as a Muggle. Ever since he had changed Voldemort over to the good side, he was ever so slightly interested in the Muggle world. James worked as an Auror for the Ministry because he got hired soon after the meeting with Tom. The ministry decided he was DEFINITELY brave enough to deal with all the wannabe villain.

Harry and Hermione found an empty compartment near the end of the train. Since his trunk was fairly heavy, his dad and Mr. Granger helped tuck away the trunks. They then left the animals in the compartment to make sure no one else would steal it. As they bid their goodbyes to their families, they saw a certain blonde boy doing the same to his parents.

"Draco!" exclaimed Hermione as she ran to greet her one of best friends. You could tell by his surprised expression that he didn't see her or this coming.

"Whoa Herms. Slow down there. Scared me." smirked Draco. "Hermione, meet my mother, Narcissa Malfoy. Mother, meet my friend, Hermione Granger."

"Nice to meet you," said Hermione as she extended her hand.

"Pleasure," said Narcissa, shaking her hand warmly. She had the image of a mother, kind, caring, and just plain nice. Despite her husband's dark past, she was a muggle supporter and she was glad to raise Draco away from Lucius to stop him from catching on to the discriminative trait that all her family shared.

"Guys, I think we should get on the Express otherwise it will leave without us," said Harry with an awkward smile. He knew that Draco and Hermione liked each other and he was slightly jealous. He had liked Hermione for a while now and he didn't want anyone, especially not his best friend, sweeping her from under his nose.

As the trio boarded the train they talked about all the things they had been up to since that day in Diagon Alley. They finally got to their compartment and saw that someone had put their trunk in there as well.

"Who-"

"Who do you think, 'Mione?" said Draco as he gave her one of his signature smirks. "I was trying to find you guys and I saw you leave so I put my stuff in here as well."

The train was starting to move so they moved to the windows to wave to their families. A few windows away, they heard the Weasley twins yelling to their sister.

"We'll send you a Hogwarts toilet seat." To which they got a reply from their mother, "_Fred! George! _Don't you dare boys!"

"I'll see you over Christmas break!" Harry yelled to his sisters, who were running to try and catch up with the train, waving frantically. Harry would definitely miss his sisters, even though they had squabbles, they still very thick as thieves.

When they left the station they all sat down and started talking again.

"So what house do you think you will be Sorted in?" asked Hermione"I read up on the Houses just last night. I have to say, Slytherin and Ravenclaw sound by far the best. I would rather be brains than brawn. Hufflepuffs have no particular criteria; they are just nice and good finders, which is useful but boring."

"Yeah I totally agree. Gryffindor is pretty good but I don't think I will fit in. I prefer to study and read than sneak out after curfew." Replied Harry.

"Wherever we get into, I just hope we are there together. We have to stick together." Added Draco.

Just then the round-faced boy came in saying, "Has anyone seen my toad, Trevor?"

"Hey Neville. No sorry we haven't. We could help you look though." Said Hermione as all three of them got up and went to every compartment in the train.

Along the way, they had found the compartment of some other first year boys. There was an Irish boy by the name of Seamus Finnegan, a dark-skinned boy named Dean Thomas and Ronald Weasley. The red-head boy had his wand out and was pointing it at his rat, looking very agitated.

"Has anyone seen a toad? Our friend Neville is looking for it." asked Hermione politely. She was slightly self-conscious as she was going to a new school and wanted to make a good impression.

"No, he's not here. Sorry." Replied Dean.

"Oh, you're doing magic? Let's see it then."

"Sunshine, daisies, butter mellow,

Turn this stupid, fat rat yellow." Recited Ron with annoyance. It looked as though he had tried to cast this spell multiple times without any result, because nothing happened to the rat now.

"I don't think that is a real spell. I have read up on some spells that we are supposed to be studying and they have worked perfectly fine for me." said Hermione to the ignorant boy. "Well, if you haven't seen Trevor then we have to go look for him. Oh and one last thing. You have got dirt on your nose, right there." And with that, the search party left smirking.

"Dude that was badass!"exclaimed Draco. He never knew that Hermione had Slytherin qualities like that. "You would be accepted into Slytherin just for that!"

"Thanks." She blushed, looking at her feet. She couldn't believe that she was getting a compliment from the guy she liked. "And since you have both mastered the Slytherin Smirk, we are a shoe in for Slytherin. I can't imagine being in a different House than you guys. You are my best friends." And with that, she hugged them both. It was like a mega hug. They were split up when they heard Neville running down the corridor to them, yelling "I found him! I found Trevor! He's not dead!" which brought smiles to everyone's faces.

When the four of them then returned to their compartment, they noticed that the view outside the window wasn't the clear blue sunny sky they saw when they went to the station. It was now slightly dim, the sun already gone down behind the mountains. It was nearly dark and they could see a castle in the distance. They were almost at Hogwarts.

"Guys, look! We are almost at Hogwarts!" squealed Hermione. She was extremely excited about the new school, as were the guys but they preferred to keep their cool.

"Shouldn't we change or something? I mean, I don't think we are supposed to go inside in Muggle clothes." Mentioned Harry.

"Thanks for reminding me, Harry," said Neville and he left to go to his compartment.

"Oh yes, I almost forgot about that. I will just grab my stuff and go change in the lavatory while you boys can change here." Suggested Hermione as she grabbed her stuff and left. The boys quickly changed into their Hogwarts robes and tidied the compartment up before Hermione came in. A minute passed before she arrived. They continued to discuss the different houses until the train stopped. They were finally at Hogwarts.

**A/N: Thanks for reading! You have no idea how much this means to me. It's my first Fanfiction and I hope you like it. :)**

**ModernTechMione**


	5. The Sorting

**A/N: Hi, sorry I haven't uploaded in a while but I had trouble with this chapter, as this is the part where the story MAJORLY differs from the one in the book. Also I had no access to the computer or internet as I went to the mountains for a few days but I did note down some ideas to I wrote them after I came back. YAY! Anyway, sorry about it being late and I hope you like it.**

**xxx Mione**

Chapter 5

When they left the train, they hear a booming voice shouting "Firs' years! Firs' years over here!"

The trio was quick to follow the voice. The voice belongs to a huge man with a bushy black beard. He looked twice as big as any other man and 5 times as wide. He had hands as big as trash can lids and he was holding a lantern in one of them

"Four to a boat!" He spoke and the trio got in to one almost immediately, as the great man scared them. Neville soon joined them in the boat and they started to discuss Hogwarts.

After a short ride over the lake, the boats stopped. The castle looked more impressive close up. Everyone there, with the exception of the giant, was just staring in awe at the castle. It was the greatest magical academies in Britain.

"Follow me," said the Giant. The crowd was quick to follow him into the castle where they were met with a strict looking woman. She was wearing an emerald-green cloak, a hat of the same coloring and a stern expression. Her brown hair was tied in a tight bun and she gave an atmosphere that said that she was not going to take any silliness.

"Welcome to Hogwarts," said the woman in a Scottish accent. "I am Professor McGonagall. Thank you, Hagrid, for bringing them here." She said as she pointedly dismissed him. He exited through the massive entrance doors that they had just arrived through.

"In a few moments we will go inside the Great Hall for your sorting. Meanwhile you should make yourselves presentable, as this is in front of the rest of the school." Said McGonagall as she looked at Neville, who was slightly ruffled from changing on the train. Everyone tried to be a perfect as possible. Draco slicked his hair back; Harry tried to flatten his down. Hermione tried to calm her wild bushy hair as much as possible but it wasn't exactly working.

All of a sudden McGonagall turned around and the doors to the Great Hall opened, presenting them, a bunch of first years, to the rest of the school. The Hall was massive. It held 4 huge house tables throughout the length of it and a platform with the staff table at the opposite end of the Entrance. As McGonagall walked swiftly towards the platform the first years followed her under the magical enchanted ceiling.

"The ceiling is enchanted. I read about it in _Hogwarts, a History._" Whispered Hermione. Harry knew how many books she had read over the summer and was amazed that she could remember this minuscule fact. Ron, on the other hand, snorted and whispered rudely to Seamus about Hermione.

"What a bookworm. I bet by the end of the Sorting, her friends will leave her." Sniggered Ron. Harry, having heard this, turned to Ron and glared at him so the other boy cowered at his stare.

"Never insult my friends Weasley," threatened Harry. "If you know what's good for you, you won't." With the threat still hanging in the air, Harry turned around and continued walking, as if the transaction between the two never happened.

When they reached the end of the tables, McGonagall quickly went into a side room and brought out a well-worn hat and a stool.

"This is the Sorting Hat. It will sort you in to one of the 4 houses based on your personality and mind. I will call you up, one by one, and the Sorting Hat will place you in the house that is most appropriate for you. The house shall be somewhat of a family for the next 7 years of your time in Hogwarts." Explained McGonagall. The hat started singing a song and the sound seemed to come from the tear near the brim or the hat. It was quite spectacular.

"_Oh you may not think I'm pretty,  
But don't judge on what you see,  
I'll eat myself if you can find  
A smarter hat than me.  
You can keep your bowlers black,  
Your top hats sleek and tall,  
For I'm the Hogwarts Sorting Hat  
And I can cap them all.  
There's nothing hidden in your head  
The Sorting Hat can't see,  
So try me on and I will tell you  
Where you ought to be.  
You might belong in Gryffindor,  
Where dwell the brave at heart,  
Their daring, nerve, and chivalry  
Set Gryffindors apart;  
You might belong in Hufflepuff,  
Where they are just and loyal,  
Those patient Hufflepuffs are true  
And unafraid of toil;  
Or yet in wise old Ravenclaw,  
if you've a ready mind,  
Where those of wit and learning,  
Will always find their kind;  
Or perhaps in Slytherin  
You'll make your real friends,  
Those cunning folks use any means  
To achieve their ends.  
So put me on! Don't be afraid!  
And don't get in a flap!  
You're in safe hands (though I have none)  
For I'm a Thinking Cap!"_

After everyone had finished applauding, she then took out a piece of parchment, unrolled it an called the first name on the list. 'Abbott, Hannah.'

'Abbott, Hannah' was sorted as a Hufflepuff soon after the Sorting Hat was put on her head. As was 'Bones, Susan'. 'Boot, Terry' was then sorted into Ravenclaw. 'Brocklehurst, Mandy' went to Ravenclaw as well and 'Brown, Lavender' was the first Gryffindor. The Table exploded with cheers; Harry could see the Weasley twins catcalling.

'Bulstrode, Millicent' then became a Slytherin. Perhaps it was Harry's imagination , after all he'd heard about Slytherin, but he thought they looked like an unpleasant lot.

Harry didn't feel that bad. He was a fair athlete and was picked near the beginning for teams in sports lessons. Everyone wanted Harry to be on their team.

'Finch-Fletchley, Justin' was promptly put into Hufflepuff. 'Finnigan, Seamus' went to Gryffindor after a whole minute on the stool.

'Granger, Hermione' was suddenly called up. She rushed to the stool faster than humanly possible and jammed the hat eagerly on her head. She sat there for a while before the hat shouted 'Ravenclaw!' Harry felt slightly anxious now. He knew that they did everything together and there wasn't a guaranteed chance that they would go to the same house.

When Neville was called up, he fell over on his way to the stool, making him blush a bright red. When the hat yelled 'Gryffindor!', Neville ran off still wearing it and had to jog back through all the laughter when he gave it to 'MacDougal, Morag'.

Draco went up and sat there almost as long as Hermione before the hat yelled 'Ravenclaw!' as well. Harry saw Draco pulling off the hat and running to the table to give Hermione a hug.

There weren't that many people left. 'Moon'…'Nott'… 'Parkinson'… and then a pair of twin girls, 'Patil' and 'Patil' … and then 'Perks, Sally-Anne'… and then, at last-

'Potter, Harry!'

As Harry stepped forward, whispers broke out all around him.

"_Potter_, did she say?"

"_The_ Harry Potter?"

The last thing Harry saw before the hat drooped over his eyes was the Hall full of people trying to steal a glance at him.

"Hmm," said a small voice in his ear. "Difficult. Very difficult. Plenty of courage, I see. A very eager to learn student I see, just like your mother. Mischievous like your father. There's plenty of talent, oh my goodness yes – and a nice thirst to prove yourself, now that's interesting … So where should I put you?"

Harry gripped the edges of the stool and thought, "Ravenclaw, Ravenclaw" over and over. He didn't want to be away from his best friends.

"Ravenclaw, eh?" said the small voice. "Are you sure? You could be great in Slytherin and Gryffindor, it's all in your head, and they would help you on the way to greatness, no doubt about that – no? Well, if you're sure – better be RAVENCLAW!"

Harry heard the hat shout the last word to the whole Hall. He took off the hat and walked shakily towards his best friends grinning ear to ear at him, beckoning him to sit next to them. He was aware that every eye in the Hall was on him but he didn't care; he was with his friends. He vaguely heard some of the Ravenclaw prefects yelling "We got Potter! We got Potter!" while the Head Boy shook his hand vigorously.

Harry could see the High Table properly now. At the end furthest from him he saw the giant who looked way out of place, being many times bigger than the person sitting next to him; Professor Flitwick. Flitwick was a very short wizard and he looked like he had goblin ancestry. He was also the Ravenclaw Head of House. He recognized Dumbledore from the many Chocolate Frog cards he had accumulated in the years. Dumbledore's beard was the only thing that shone as bright as the ghosts in the Great Hall.

It was then that Harry realized that there were still people to be sorted. 'Turpin, Lisa' became a Ravenclaw and he cheered as loud as anyone. Then it was the youngest Weasley's turn and he instantly went to Slytherin. The Hall became as quite as could be because a Weasley NEVER associated with Slytherins. The expressions on the other Weasleys were priceless. They were gawking at their youngest brother as he marched over to the Slytherin table, his face as red as his hair. After him, 'Zabini, Blaise' also went to Slytherin. It was then that Harry remembered that he was hungry. The pumpkin pasties and Red Vines on the train seemed ages ago.

Albus Dumbledore had got up to his feet. He was beaming at the students, his arms open wide, as if nothing could have pleased him more than to see them all there.

"Welcome!" he said. "Welcome to a new year at Hogwarts! Before we begin our banquet, I would like to say a few words. And here they are: Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak! Thank you!" and with that he sat back down. Everyone clapped and cheered. Harry was grinning just from this simple speech.

"I always knew old Dumby was crazy!" he joked to his friends. They laughed in response but before they could say anything, the food appeared on the table. They eagerly dug in to the many different things on the table; roast beef, roast chicken, pork and lamb chops, sausages, bacon and steak, boiled potatoes, roast potatoes, chips… the list was endless. While they ate, they conversed with their new classmates. Terry Boot, Micheal Corner, Anthony Goldstein, Padma Patil, Lisa Turpin, Su Li, Morag MacDougal and Mandy Brocklehurst were pretty cool people but no matter what, they could nor would ever replace Draco and Hermione.

Most of their classmates were half-blood, with the exception of Hermione and Terry, both of whom were Muggleborn. Harry met the prefects, one of who was Penelope Clearwater, who had long, brown, curly hair. She was also a Quidditch enthusiast, which intrigued Harry a bit, as many girls didn't enjoy the Wizarding sport. She introduced them to the Grey Lady, the Ravenclaw ghost, who was a melancholy young woman.

Harry looked around to other tables, he noticed Ron was being ignored by his Slytherin classmates and was stuffing his face in solitude. The Bloody Baron was gliding along the rows, disturbing the Slytherins from eating as they stared at his empty staring eyes. The Gryffindor ghost was an amusing character, chatting pleasantly with Seamus, Dean and Neville. Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington or Nearly-Headless Nick, was explaining how you could be nearly headless to the three awe-struck boys. Harry gave Neville a brief, encouraging smile that was meant to show that Harry and he would still be friends no matter the different houses they were in. Harry heard Neville telling the story of how he found out that he wasn't a Squib after all. His uncle accidentally dropped him out of a window when he was 8, triggering accidental magic. Harry laughed inwardly at that, because he could imagine Neville's family doing something like that.

On the other side of Harry, he heard Hermione asking the Ravenclaw prefects about transfiguration lessons. _Good old Hermione,_ mused Harry. _Always being the smartest person in school._

When Harry looked back at the High Table, he noticed a different pair of teachers. They weren't happy or pleased about the Great Feast. In fact, they looked like they wanted to get out of the room as fast as possible. One of the teachers, a personal acquaintance of Harry's, Professor Snape. He was a close friend of his mothers so he came over for brunch and tea every once in a while. He had long greasy black hair and he was dressed completely in black. He reminded Harry of an overgrown bat.

The other professor, Harry had never seen before. He was a pale man, with a great purple turban on his head. He was shaking like crazy, although still managing to talk. Harry wondered what subject he taught, since he looked too scared to teach Defense Against the Dark Arts.

Dumbledore stood up again and interrupted Harry's train of thought. Suddenly the Great Hall became eerily quiet and all eyes were on the Headmaster.

"Ahem – just a few more words now that we are all fed and watered. I have a few start-of-term notices to give you. First-years should note that the forest in the grounds is forbidden to all students. And a few of our older students would do well to remember that as well." His eyes twinkled over the the Weasley twins who looked like they were already planning a prank. "I have also been asked by Mr. Filch, the caretaker, to remind you all that no magic should be used between classes in the corridors. Quidditch trials will be held in the second week of school. Anyone interested in playing for their house team should contact Madam Hooch." He looked around at all of the eager faces in the Hall looking up at him and sighed. He had a secret he really SHOULD tell them but he couldn't bear to ruin their year at this school. "I would like to welcome back Professor Quirrel, who instead of teach Muggle Studies again, will take a swing at Defense Against the Dark Arts this year." With that, Quirrel seemed to lose his quiver and stood up and bowed to the applauding Hall.

"And now, before we go to bed, let us sing the school song!" cried Dumbledore. Harry noticed that the other teachers' smiles became rather fixed.

Dumbledore gave his wand a little flick as if he was trying to get a fly off the end and a long golden ribbon flew out of it, which rose high above the tables and twisted itself snake-like into words.

"Everyone pick their favorite tune," said Dumbledore, "and off we go!"

And the school bellowed:

"_Hogwarts, Hogwarts, hoggy warty Hogwarts,  
Teach us something please,  
Whether we be old and bald,  
Or young with scabby knees,  
Our heads could do with filling,  
With some interesting stuff,  
For now they're bare and full of air,  
Dead flies and bits of fluff,  
So teach us things worth knowing,  
Bring back what we've forgot,  
Just do your best, we'll do the rest,  
And learn until our brains all rot."_

Everyone finished the song at different times. At last, only the Weasley twins were left, singing along to a very slow funeral march. Dumbledore conducted their last few lines with his wand, and when they had finished, he was one of the ones who clapped loudest.

"Ah, music," he said, wiping his eyes. "A magic beyond all we do here! And now, bedtime. Off you trot!"

The Ravenclaw first-years followed Penelope and a Male prefect to the Ravenclaw common room and dorms. They went up countless staircases and through several corridors until they reached the entrance to the room which is at the top of a spiral staircase, and is a door without doorknob or keyhole but a bronze knocker in the shape of an eagle.

"In order to enter the room, a person must answer a question asked by the eagle knocker; if they answer incorrectly, they must wait for someone else who gets it right." Explained Penelope. She asked the knocker to give her a riddle.

"Which came first, the phoenix, or the flame?" asked the eagle.

"A circle has no beginning." Answered Penelope after a moments thought.

As they entered, they were equally amazed by they quality and brilliance of the room. The Ravenclaw common room is one of the most airy rooms at Hogwarts. It is a wide, circular room with a midnight blue carpet, arched windows hung with soft blue silks, and a domed ceiling painted with stars. The room is furnished with tables, chairs, and bookcases; and by the door leading up to the dormitories, there is a tall statue of Rowena Ravenclaw made of white marble.

"Wow," exhaled Hermione. She had read up on all the common rooms and said that this was by far the most impressive and breathtaking but it was so much better to see it in person than reading a description in a book.

"Yeah, wow," replied Harry. He was equally amazed by the common room. It was simple yet majestic.

"OK, so the girls dorms are over there," said Penelope, as she pointed to an archway on her left. "And the boys dorms are in there." With that, she pointed to the right. "Breakfast is from 8 to 9, so you have time to sleep in." she said with a wink. "You will get your schedules tomorrow at breakfast. Your trunks are already in the dorms, so just look for the door that says 'First Years' and you will find your dorm. Good Night!" and with that she left upstairs to the girls' dorms. The first years did as they were told and fell asleep fairly quickly, as they were exhausted from the Sorting and Feast.

**A/N: Did I mention I love reviews? ;)**


	6. The First Day

**A/N: Sorry it's sooooo late but I had like ZERO inspiration and yeah... So thanks for reading and supporting me, so yeah! **

**Luv ya **

**xoxoxo**

**Elle **

Chapter 6

The next day they woke up and got ready for breakfast, as it was almost 8 o'clock. Draco and Harry were in the Ravenclaw dorm with Terry, Michael, and Anthony and they had become good friends. The boys met Hermione in the common room and they proceeded to the Great Hall from the Ravenclaw Tower.

"Aren't you guys excited? We are getting our schedules today!" exclaimed Hermione. She was ecstatic just from being here one day. The boys nodded and chuckled at her behavior.

"Yes we are 'Mione. But we tend to keep it hidden in fear of people thinking we like school." Cheekily replied Harry. He was just as excited as his best friend, he just didn't show it. Imagine that, famous Harry Potter, studying! Liking school! He was the son of a Marauder and the godson of another! Oh the shame!

"Oh yeah Potter. Oh the backlash if your father and Sirius happen to hear that you like books more than Quidditch. Just imagine how proud your mother will be. Mummy's little boy." Teased Draco. He knew the pranks the Marauders pulled off in their day and how Lily was the only one trying to hold them from pestering more people. But even though the group played pranks on people, everyone still liked them.

"Oh shut it, Malfoy." Replied Harry. Even though they were best friends, they still called each other by their last names.

With that, they entered the hall and continue to joke around for the better half of the hour until Hermione stopped them.

"Guys, look. Flitwick's handing out schedules!" and with she ran towards their Head of House to collect their schedules. She came back with a triumphant grin on her face. "We all have the same classes! I mean, isn't that awesome?" she squealed, making the guys cringe.

"Herms, I know you're excited about this but _please_ tone down the crazy." Smirked Draco. She looked at him for a second with genuinely hurt eyes then sat down and pouted.

"Fine then. I will 'tone down the crazy', if that's what you want." she simply replied, too engrossed in her schedule to look up.

"Oh come on, Hermi! I was joking around! Don't give me the cold shoulder. It will not be a very good start to the year…" He said while looking at her with puppy-dog eyes. She glanced at him and the burst out laughing with Harry, leaving Draco confused.

"I can't believe you fell for it." she said in between laughs. "I just knew you were going to say something like that and I planned it all. I'm sorry," she said when she saw Draco's hurt expression. "It was just a joke."

"Ok, I'll forgive you. On one condition. I want a Hermione-Hug." Replied Draco. He opened his arms and Hermione quickly hugged his so hard it took his breath away. "We're good, we're good." He said while he got his breath back. Hermione, however, just smirked at this.

"So we have double Charms first, with the Hufflepuffs, then break double Transfiguration with the Gryffindors, lunch, double Potions with the Slytherins, Double Defense and then free time I guess." She said

"How about I sit with you, 'Mione, in Charms and Draco can sit near us, then I can sit with Neville in Transfiguration and Draco sits with you, me and Draco in Potions and you near us, and then I guess it's you and me again for DADA." Said Harry. He was excited about the lesson and sitting next to Hermione but was also sad that they didn't have a fourth, another person with them in all their classes.

"Ok, that's today. But what about tomorrow?" asked Draco. "We have Herbology, History of Magic, Flying and Astronomy. I'm not sure how we split those."

"In Herbology we don't sit so we can stand all together. History of Magic won't be too hard as the tables are all together so we can just sit next to each other and Flying. Again no chairs there. For Astronomy we go outside to look at the stars so we can sort of sit near each other. It'll be fine guys." Reasoned Hermione. She did love her friends but she felt a bit too protected by them at times. She wanted some female friends as well. "I think I will be fine if I sit with some girls as well. I'm not sure you know this but you are not the best people to talk to about boys." She said cheekily. The Trio was constantly teased each other but that was what made them, well them.

"We aren't?" asked Draco in mock surprise. "Well just for that I'm not…not… not doing girl things with you. There. How do you like that Granger? I just stopped being your best girl friend. Wait…"

Hermione and Harry were just laughing all through this. It was just like Draco to say something like this. He was smart, yes, but he could be thick and silly at times as well.

It was just then that they noticed that the Slytherins were just arriving. Ron entered first, followed by Crabbe and Goyle. Ron looked like a ring leader, a complete douche bag while the other two were just his followers, his body guards in a way. Before the Trio could do anything, The Slytherins walked over to them.

"What's up nerds? Excited about getting your class schedules?" mocked Ron. He never was a very pleasant person but to make fun of Hermione was too far for Harry and Draco.

"Why don't you get lost Weasley?" sneered Draco.

"It's not like you have any smart friends, hence why the Hat put you into Slytherin with the no brainers." Smirked Harry. Draco's smirk had really rubbed off on him.

"Why you filthy little-" started Ron but he was interrupted by McGonagall, who by the looks of it, could sense a fight before it actually happened.

"A problem, boys?" she asked with a look that meant she was watching them.

"No professor. These boys just came over to wish us a good first day." Lied Draco quickly. It was one of his useful traits. He could always get them out of trouble by lying smoothly.

"Yes, _professor._" Ron forced out while glaring at Draco. The latter, however, only smiled innocently as the Slytherins retreated. McGonagall just looked at the Trio one more time before leaving as well.

"See? I can take care of them no problem." Bragged Draco.

"Yes of _course _you can Draco." said Hermione, mockingly.

"I am shocked, Hermione, shocked I say! That you would doubt me. I'm going to get you for that." He said mischievously. He was already, no doubt, planning some kind of prank to play on her. The two boys had gotten tips from James and Sirius before they left for Hogwarts. Lily didn't know anything about this otherwise she would have stopped the boys from creating a new generation of Marauders.

"Later. I have a question that has been bugging me and you just might know the answer. Why do all Slytherins call people by their last names?"

"Because, you have to earn the right to be called by your first name, calling you by your last name shows respect. Calling someone by their first name means you're either family or know the person well enough to kiss them," replied Draco after a moment's thought. "That's all there is to it. My mum told me when I asked her. She constantly greeted my father's 'friends' that way. And that was when she was polite. Besides, she only taught me that because she thought I was going to be sorted in to Slytherin. She thought she needed to teach me some need-to-know stuff like how to treat people. If she would've had a guarantee that I was in a different house, she would've never even bothered." He said bitterly.

Hermione thought about this answer and then returned to the book she had brought down.

"So have you owled your parents yet? I was going to go to the Owlry after breakfast. Want to come with me?" asked Harry. He knew his family was going to be curious about his Sorting.

"Sure dude. You comin' 'Mione?" asked Draco.

"Yes of course. But I just got to this super interesting part in my book. Hogwarts A History is one of my favorites yet…" she babbled on while they made their way to the Owlry. The boys just smiled and listened to all that she had to say. As they made their way up to the Owlry, they passed fellow Ravenclaws and greeted them. They wanted to make as many friends as possible here, so they are never lonely.

Harry quickly wrote a note to his parents and attached it to Hedwig, his snowy white owl. Hermione and Draco also gave their owls a letter, saying how nice Hogwarts is, their house, and a bit about their friends. This didn't take long and they went to explore the castle and the surrounding area, effectively finding two of the secret passages out of Hogwarts. Hermione simply rolled her eyes when the boys insisted they check out where the paths lead. She had gotten used to their daring behavior. It was a surprise when they hadn't made Gryffindor.


	7. The Potions Master

**A/N: Hi! I am back after a month of being on Hiatus… Sorry about not warning you but I REALLY didn't want to waste a chapter on an AUTHOR'S NOTE! I mean, COME ON! How UNPROFESSIONAL is that? I know this was as well but I am back :D**

**So thanks soooo much for reading and reviewing, I really appreciate it. I would love it if I reached at least 10 reviews per chapter but I know that is kind of unrealistic so I will settle for 50 reviews for 10 chapters. Sound good? Yay! I have like 27 already so you have your work cut out for you! **

**Disclaimer: Not blonde, rich or British therefore not JK Rowling and do not own Harry Potter…**

Chapter 7

It was their first day of lessons. All three were nervous, as they had never met any of these teachers (except Harry) and were eager to make a first impression. There were 149 staircases in Hogwarts, and they all kept moving, making it nearly impossible to get to class on time, if you didn't know the secret passages.

Harry, Draco, and Hermione, on the other hand, had the best beck to school present from the Marauders; The Cloak of Invisibility, passed down to Harry from a long generation of Potters, and the Marauder's Map. It was a magical map that the Marauders had made in their last year at Hogwarts, to help the future generations out. It showed where every person was, as well as all the secret passageways in and outside the school.

At Breakfast they got letters from their parents telling them to work hard, be nice and not to get in trouble. Well, that's not what Harry's parents sent him.

_Dear Harry,_

_I am so proud of you for getting in Ravenclaw, though I would be equally proud if you had gotten in your father's and my old house, Gryffindor. Your sisters miss you, as do we. PLEASE don't get in trouble and make more friends. _

_With love_

_Your Mother_

_PS. Harry, this is your father. Feel free to use the map, cloak and anything else I might have told you to wreak havoc upon the school. I expect a new generation of Marauders. Hogwarts has gone too long without a group of pranksters. Sirius says hi._

_Love you son,_

_Your dad._

_PPS. Harry, this is your mother. Don't even think of 'wreaking havoc' as your father put it. I don't want to see my son expelled from the best Wizarding school in the country. Behave, young man!_

_Love,_

_Mom_

"What does it say?" asked Draco, eyeing the long letter. He knew parents couldn't have too much to say as it was only the second day in school.

"Knock yourself out." Said Harry as he handed Draco the letter. He felt a little bit melancholy, as he was away from his family, this was the first day he had classes and he had the right to be nervous. He knew that his angst showed up on his face. Hermione, as if reading his mind, leaned over and gave him a quick, reassuring hug. She also knew how it felt to be with your entire family for one moment and then be away from then another.

He noticed Draco smirk and even snicker to himself in a few places. Harry just smiled at this; his parents had a unique way of writing to him, his parents contradicting each other fairly often. Dad says to misbehave, Mom says to behave, that kind of thing.

While they were eating they heard an earsplitting noise from the Slytherin table after an old owl crash landed next to Weasley. He had gotten a Howler, from his mother, no less.

"RONALD BILIUS WEASLEY! HOW COULD YOU GET SORTED INTO SLYTHERIN?" Mrs. Weasley's voice amplified about a hundred times, getting even louder with every word. "WE WEASLEYS ARE GRYFFINDORS NOT SLYTHERINS! HOW COULD YOU EVEN THINK OF BREAKING THE LINE! YOU BETTER TALK TO DUMBLEDORE OR YOU ARE KICKED OUT OF OUR FAMILY!"

The Great Hall was in silence due to Mrs. Weasley's letter. Who knew the woman who looked so kind and motherly was a real hard-ass bitch? Weasley was shrinking in his seat, his face as red as his hair. The hall snickered at his expression briefly, before returning to their breakfast. Soon after, it was time to go to their first class.

Most first-years were confused as to where they were supposed to go, but The Silver Trio, as they were now called, were always first to class, no matter where. Double Charms was a breeze, Flitwick giving out 15 points to any student who could master the levitating spell _Wingardium Leviosa._

"Remember, children. The wand movement is Swish and Flick. Try to do it. And then you can move on to the incantation _Wingardium Leviosa._" Said Flitwick. Some were still having trouble mastering the wand movement while Harry, Hermione and Draco had raised their feathers high in the air.

"Oh wonderful!"exclaimed Flitwick. He was so excited that he fell off his tower of books that helped him see over the desktop. "15 points to Ravenclaw each!"

The Trio had earned 60 points for Ravenclaw in the end, by mastering the spell and helping others master it as well.

Transfiguration went differently. Professor McGonagall was one of the strictest teachers in the school and could keep the class quiet with out having to raise her voice barely above a whisper. The students were silent to catch her every word.

"Transfiguration is some of the most complex and dangerous magic you will learn at Hogwarts. Anyone messing around in my class will leave and not come back. You have been warned." McGonagall said as she started the lesson. "You will be transfiguring pieces of straw into needles. Off to work."

Transfiguration was slightly more challenging than Charms and Hermione was the only one to get her piece of straw pointy and silver. When she showed this to the teacher, McGonagall gave her a rare smile and awarded 20 points to Ravenclaw. Harry and Draco just looked at each other with a look that said it all; 'We are SO going to win the House Cup!'

Potions was a whole other story. Professor Snape was a tall man, who dressed in all black, had greasy black hair, and, by the looks of it, had a strong preference to the Slytherin house.

"You are here to learn the subtle science and exact art of potion making," he began. He spoke in barely more than a whisper, but they caught every word — like Professor McGonagall, Snape had the gift of keeping a class silent without effort. "As there is little foolish wand-waving here, many of you will hardly believe this is magic. I don't expect you will really understand the beauty of the softly simmering cauldron with its shimmering fumes, the delicate power of liquids that creep through human veins, bewitching the mind, ensnaring the senses… I can teach you how to bottle fame, brew glory, even stopper death — if you aren't as big a bunch of dunderheads as I usually have to teach."

"Potter!" said Snape suddenly. "What would I get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?"

Harry looked around, even though he knew the answer. Draco was just looking at the ceiling, trying to remember while Hermione had raised her hand as high up as it would go.

"Asphodel and wormwood make a sleeping potion so powerful it is known as the Draught of Living Death, sir." said Harry.

Snape's lips curled into a sneer.

"Well, well. Wasn't that a lucky guess?" He said. "Let's try again. Potter, where would you look if I told you to find me a bezoar?"

Hermione stretched her hand as high into the air as it would go without her leaving her seat. Harry tried to hide his smirk from Snape as he knew the answer, while the others had probably pegged his wit for beginners luck. He tried not to look at Weasley, Crabbe, and Goyle, who were shaking with laughter.

"A bezoar is a stone taken from the stomach of a goat and it will save you from most poisons, sir." Replied Harry as calm as you wish.

"So you _did_ open up a book before coming here, eh, Potter? Or did youyou're your wits from that father of yours? "

Harry forced himself to keep looking straight into those cold eyes. He had looked through his books at home but why was Snape picking on his father in the classroom when he was civil to him while visiting his mother?

"What is the difference, Potter, between monkshood and wolfsbane?"

At this, Hermione stood up, her hand stretching toward the dungeon ceiling.

"Monkshood and wolfsbane, they are the same plant, which also goes by the name of aconite."said Harry quietly. "I think Hermione knows as well, so, why don't you try her?"

"Well done, Potter." Sneered Snape, as he glared. "Why aren't you all writing this down? And, Potter, a point will be taken off for your cheek."

Things didn't improve for the Ravenclaws as the Potions lesson continued. Snape put them all into pairs and set them to mixing up a simple potion to cure boils. He swept around in his long black cloak, watching them weigh dried nettles and crush snake fangs, criticizing almost everyone except Weasley, whom he seemed to like.

While they were working on their potions, there was a little incident. Neville was working together with Seamus Finnegan, another Gryffindor. Seamus wasn't the best potioneer, as he constantly blew stuff up with his wand, and he wasn't paying attention to what Neville was doing. Harry and Draco noticed though.

"Neville, maybe you shouldn't add th-" Harry started but was interrupted by Weasley, who had come over here to show up Neville, as he had just gotten a compliment from Snape about how he is skilled in potions.

"Hey Longbottom! I thought Squibs weren't allowed in Hogwarts. My mistake, I guess." He snickered. Neville flushed but did nothing to retaliate. His potion, however, had other intentions because at that precise moment, it exploded all over Weasley, making him break out in bright red, angry boils.

"Idiot boy!" snarled Snape, clearing the spilled potion away with one wave of his wand. "I suppose you added the porcupine quills before taking the cauldron off the fire?"

Neville simply hung his head down in shame.

"Take Weasley up to the hospital wing," Snape spat at Goyle. "You are getting detention this Saturday. Maybe that will teach you to listen to instructions."

Then he rounded on Harry and Draco, who had been working next to Neville.

"You — Potter — why didn't you tell him not to add the quills? Thought he'd make you look good if he got it wrong, did you? That's another point you've lost for Ravenclaw."

"But sir! That's unfair! He did! Well, he tried to, Weasley cut him off." Defended Draco. He, too, couldn't understand why the Potions Master was so horrible to Harry.

"Mr. Malfoy, unless _you_ want to lose a third point, I'd recommend shutting up." Said Snape as he glared at Draco. Draco simply glared straight back at him until he left.

Harry, on the other hand, simply couldn't believe it. He had lost 2 points for Ravenclaw in his first week.

While they were walking to Defense, the Trio and Neville started discussing the strange behavior of Snape.

"I asked around yesterday and the Weasley Twins, real pranksters they are, told me that Snape is always like this. Has been since he started, at least that's what they said their brother Bill said." Said Neville.

"Yes it is peculiar." Replied Hermione, "Wait, Harry! Didn't your parents go to school the same year as Snape? Maybe we could ask them what's wrong with the old bat."

"You know what, Hermi? That is just plain brilliant!" grinned Draco as he patted her shoulder. You could see she appreciated the compliment.

"Should we do it now? Ask them, I mean." Asked Harry.

"No, silly. We have our first Defense now. Speaking of which, if we don't hurry, we will be late." She admonished, "Bye Neville! Have fun in Herbology!"

"See you, dude" and "Bye" came from the boys as they made their way to their Defense class. The bell rang just after they ran into the class.

When they sat down they heard a voice near the front of the class.

"Welcome, children." It said, "To your first Defense Against the Dark Arts lesson."

A man stepped out of the shadows; he looked aged, like he had been through hard times. He looked like he was around 60 years old

"My name is Professor Riddle and I am your teacher this year." He introduced himself. "I have been teaching here since the end of the Wizarding War, which in the end was my fault. I have changed my ways so there is nothing to fear. Any questions before we begin?"

No one raised their hands so Professor Riddle continued.

"This year we will learn about basic curses, jinxes, counter curses and protection spells. I plan to teach you about the Curse of the Bogies, the Knockback Jinx and the Lumos charm. Let's start with some notes, shall we?" he said as a piece of chalk started writing notes on the Curse of the Bogies. There was a quick shuffle of students getting quills and parchment before the professor started speaking. "The Curse of the Bogies is an offensive spell which is used to make the recipient ill with a strong cold, making him collapse if not treated. The incantation of this is _Mucus ad Nauseam._ The counter curse for this spell as well as most others is _Finite_ or _Finite Incantatem_." He looked away from the textbook and closed it. "Now, let's try to pronounce it. _Mucus ad Nauseam._ Repeat me please. _Mucus ad Nauseam_"

There was a chorus of "_Mucus ad Nauseam_"s from the first-years. Professor Riddle looked pleased.

"Now get out your wands and let's practice the wand movement. You should practice this on your neighbor. This will not harm them. As soon as you see the spell has worked, say the counter curse to save them from a trip to the Hospital Ward." And with that, the professor stopped talking, the chalk stopped writing down notes and the students started working. They were all some what nervous about casting a spell on their friends and anxious about what would happen but that didn't stop them.

Harry was the first to successfully cast it on Draco, making his friend sneeze. His counter curse worked perfectly and Draco was well within seconds.

"Well done, Mr. Potter. 20 Points to Ravenclaw, was it? Good, keep on working." Riddle said as he passed the two boys. "Mr. Malfoy, you might want to have a go." After that, he moved on to Hermione helping her a bit with the spell as she seemed to be having trouble.

Draco was having some trouble at first but He managed to do the spell and the counter curse. This earned Ravenclaw 20 more points. When Hermione finally got it, she got 20 points as well. Riddle turned this into a joke.

"Well, if I had known I had such talented students in my class, I would have thought of something more challenging." He smiled at his three star pupils. "Alright, so for homework, I want you to write an essay, about one roll of parchment on how this is a good or bad spell, and if it can or cannot be used in battle. That's all, thank you." And with that, he returned to his office at the end of the class while everyone packed up and left.

"That was the coolest lesson ever!" exclaimed Draco, punching the air with his fist. "I never knew Old Voldie could be that awesome."

"Old who?" asked a confused Hermione.

"You know, Voldemort. That's him. His real name was Tom Riddle. And Voldie is supposed to be around 60 years old. It all fits." Explained Draco.

"Oh. I don't care about his past, it's in the past isn't it? Besides, he is the best teacher ever!" Harry agreed with Draco.

Hermione was a bit hesitant. "Are you sure he isn't dangerous? I mean, he is-was a dark lord."

"Dudette, you have nothing to worry about. He said it himself, he is OK and won't do us any harm but we can learn how to harm Weasley. Did you hear his howler this morning? His mom is such a bitch, I almost feel sorry for him." Said Draco. "Almost."

"Should we get started on our homework?"asked Hermione, "We have the 12 inches of parchment for Transfiguration and Charms, that roll for DADA and Potions." She recited their homework, all of which was for the following week.

"What did you say?" asked a surprised Draco.

"What are you talking about?"

"That DADA thing. What is it?"

"It's an abbreviation of Defense Against the Dark Arts. See? DADA."

"Oh, right." Blushed Draco. He hated seeming stupid, though he acted quite thick pretty often to make people laugh.

"Let's just finish as much as we can before dinner. I think the Library is this way." Said Harry and he lead them to the Library where they found a quiet table to work at.

By the time Neville caught up to them, an hour later, they had finished their Charms and Transfiguration and were halfway done writing their Potions essay.

"Wow, now I know why you guys were sorted into Ravenclaw." Joked Neville as he spotted the growing pile of finished homework. "Did you start that after DADA?"

"Does everyone know and use this abbreviation but me?" Draco asked, annoyed by the phrase already.

"Um, yeah dude. Everyone but you. Sounds about right." Joked Harry.

Draco just glared at his best friend and went back to writing his potions essay.

"You guys know that we can go to dinner, right?" said Neville after a period of 5 minutes.

"Oh no! I thought I would remember dinner time but this essay took up too much of my attention!" exclaimed Hermione, stuffing all her essays into her back, starting to walk away from the table, before stopping to notice the boys were just sitting there, snickering at her. She simply glared at them and they started to get their stuff together, with a smile on each of their faces.

When they reached the Great Hall, they parted ways with Neville and went to sit at the Ravenclaw table. The table wasn't empty but wasn't crowded either, and they found a place for three people near the other first years, as if the places had been saved especially for them. They talked to Terry about the classes and it turns out that he too thought that Snape was being unreasonable.

"You should go talk to Snape, ask him why he was so horrible. Just maybe phrase it a little differently." Advised Terry. Harry gave him a small smile before replying.

"I don't think talking is the way to get through to Snape."

"That's it! That's what I forgot! Harry, remember before DADA we were talking about Snape and you said that he went to school the same year as your parents. Just owl them. Do you want to go now?" said Hermione.

Harry looked slightly anxious but nodded warily. As he got up he said "You coming, Draco?" But Draco hadn't appeared to hear him. He was staring over to the Slytherin table in the direction of a girl, Daphne Greengrass. She was a pretty girl, slim, fairly tall, with hair as black as ash and striking blue eyes. She was attractive, yes, but Harry had his eyes on another brown-haired girl. "I'll take that as a no. Let's go, Mione." And they left to the Owlry.

The Owlry was a messy place, with hundreds of owls, all different colors, just sat there waiting for someone to come and give them a letter to send. Harry called his snowy white owl, Hedwig, down from somewhere near the top.

"Hey girl," he said to the owl as he stroked her. "Do you like it here at Hogwarts? I do and I need you to send mom and dad a letter. Can you do it?" The bird just looked at her owner with an expression that said it all; _Of course I can. I have only been sitting for the past few days._

Harry quickly scribbled on a piece of parchment Hermione had given him.

_Dear Mom and Dad,_

_It's me, Harry. I had a great first day, as I earned20 points from Flitwick for _Wingardium Leviosa_ and 20 more from Riddle for the Curse of the Bogies. Isn't that great? Anyway I have to ask you something. I know you went to school with Severus Snape, or as I am supposed to call him no, Professor Snape. What bothers me is that he picked on me all lesson today and deducted 2 point from Ravenclaw for me giving him 'cheek' and for apparently not watching out for Neville's exploding potion. Poor Neville got detention on Saturday when all the contents of the potion exploded on Ronald Weasley. It was quite a sight and I had front row seats. I am really curious as to what his problem is. Please reply as soon as possible._

_Love,_

_Harry_

_PS. Hermione says hi! _

"But I didn't say anything." Remarked Hermione, after reading the letter.

"I know, but they like you and I added that so they know I still have friends at school." Harry teased her.

"Why wouldn't you have friends? You _are _Harry Potter, son of the Man-Who-Saved-Us-All. I mean, why wouldn't you have friends?" she joked as they walked back to the castle.

When they reached the entrance to their common room, Hermione answered the riddle and they saw Draco on the couch by the fire with a dreamy expression on his face.

_Here it goes_ thought Harry.

"Hey man. What's up?" he said as he sat down next to Draco as Hermione sat on his other side doing some homework.

"Heh, what happened?" he snapped out of his reverie, a look of panic on his face. It took about 2 seconds before Harry and Hermione burst out laughing at their blonde friend. He glared at them for a moment before talking to them.

"Where did you guys go during dinner? I mean, I was sitting there with you guys one moment and then the next I was sitting alone. What happened?"

"Well, we went to the Owlry to send my parents that letter about Snape. I asked you if you wanted to come but you were to busy staring at a certain dark-haired Slytherin to hear me." Harry added vaguely.

"If you are talking about Crabbe or Goyle, then that is a very twisted joke. And not funny." He added when Hermione had burst into a fit of giggles while Harry just snickered at his friends.

"Well Draco, I was actually talking about Daphne but do tell. What is going on between you and the Apes?" teased Harry.

"Oh shut it please. I am not in the mood."

"What happened Draco?" asked Hermione, concerned. Draco wasn't down in the dumps often.

"Well, after you guys left, my mother's owl came and dropped me a letter." He gulped before he continued. "She said that…that my father…in Azkaban, yeah? Well…he died. The Dementors were too much for him after 10 years. He just died, today." He put his face in his hands, in a defeated sort of manner. "I mean, I wasn't close to the man or anything, but he… he _was_ my father, after all."

Hermione put her homework on the coffee table in front of them and put her arms around Draco, giving his a big, comforting hug. He leaned into her, shaking slightly, as silent tears rolled from his closed eyes. Harry gave his friend a slightly awkward hug on the other side, but still comforting nonetheless. It was times like these that made Draco realize how lucky he was to have such good friends.

**A/N Sorry it ended kind of depressingly but I needed SOME kind of plot… And Draco's dad dying was the only thing I could think of doing… I know it's too American to be JK Rowling style but that's how I roll so yeah.**

**Keep on Reading and Reviewing my awesome peeps! Check out my other story, **_**When Hermione Calls**_** which is basically set in the summer between 2****nd**** and 3****rd**** year, instead of Ron calling the Dursleys, Hermione does. How does that turn out? Read and find out!**

**All My Love, **

**Elle **


	8. Quidditch

**A/N: REUPLOADED VERSION! Read!**

Chapter 8

2 weeks had passed in Hogwarts and everyone was fitting in well. The Trio were the top students in the classes, always earning points for correct answers or a spell that succeeded. Ron's boils from potions had gone away. Harry's parents had long replied to his latter, saying that Snape hated James from the first time they met, because he wanted to be in Gryffindor, not Slytherin. That and the natural dislike from Gryffindor/Slytherin because Harry looks uncannily like his father, therefore Snape assumed Harry is James.

One rainy afternoon, while they were doing their homework, Draco kept looking around for some inspiration to write another one of Riddle's essays, he saw a new notice on the Ravenclaw notice board, along with notices for Quidditch trials, a wizarding book club, a homework club, organized by students for extra credit in some classes, stood a notice for first year flying lessons.

"Merlin's pants! Guys! Look at this!" exclaimed Draco as he ran towards the sign.

"Look! _Flying Lessons for first-year Ravenclaws will be this Friday afternoon during Double Potions with the first-year Slytherins._" Read Harry, his tone decreasing in excitement as he read the end of the notice. "This is pretty cool, seeing as we are missing Potions but with the Slytherins? Really? They can clearly see that Slytherins don't get along with anyone but themselves."

"Harry, Gryffindors are coming as well, see?" Hermione pointed out as she read the paper. "Blah blah blah, here it is! _with the first-year Slytherins and Gryffindors. _It won't be totally bad, we have Neville with us."

"That's cool, I guess," replied Harry half-heartedly.

"Dude, that's awesome! Besides _I _am pretty sure that Weasley has never ridden a good broom before, I overheard him saying that the Shooting Star was the best one he'd ever ridden!" Draco snickered at the Weasel.

"Is that so? I heard they were disbanded after being judged too slow for Quidditch games." Smirked Harry. Hermione smirked as well before returning to her homework. She always finished her homework the day it was due, as not to start procrastinating, or worse, doing them less than a week in advance.

"Well, it's no Nimbus. Did you see the new model in Diagon Alley?" added Hermione.

This made Draco's mouth gape open at her knowledge of broomsticks and the models. This was an extraordinary feat for a girl, seeing as girls aren't normally interested in Quidditch.

"You speak brooms? An-and Quidditch? But- but that's our world!" gaped Draco "How? When?"

Hermione simply smirked at him." You know how Harry is my neighbor right? Well, when I first moved next door, I didn't have any friends. The Potters took me under their wing, so to say. Lily noticed a spark of accidental magic, when Harry stole one of my books, I summoned it back. They told me I was a witch and can do magic. I didn't believe them at first, but who would? Some random people next door telling you, you could do magic? Preposterous! but then I got comfortable with the idea and they started teaching me stuff about the wizarding world, I started to like it. One day when James was talking to Harry about Quidditch and brooms, I found myself entranced by the simply amazing anti-gravitational power of a single broomstick."

"Can you repeat the last part in English not nerd-speak?" half-teased half-asked Draco. Hermione playfully punched him on the arm for calling her a nerd.

"It means I like brooms. Or then, I liked the IDEA of brooms. Just how they worked was fascinating to me. So I asked if I could try to fly with one, and I borrowed Harry's Comet 260 and I have been flying ever since. Any questions?" she joked.

"Wow." Said Draco as he stared slightly dreamily at Hermione, but he snapped out of it when he heard Comet 260. "Dude," to Harry, "You never told me you had a Comet 260. I only have a Cleansweep 6. You have to let me try to ride it."

"It flies pretty smoothly, if not in strong winds, but it is not a Quidditch playing broom. You would fall off it immediately if someone so much as threw a Bludger at you. From what I read in _Which Broomstick_, the best one, after the Nimbus is the Cleansweep 7."

After this short statement, Draco was, again, flabbergasted.

Harry just rolled his eyes at his friend and returned to his homework.

Dumbledore was pacing around his room, thinking about the Potters. They had been a problem since James 'defeated' Tom. He remembered the day when he heard the news with unfortunate clarity.

*_Flashback*_

_Dumbledore was sitting at his desk, reading the Daily Prophet's first page article._

"_**POTTER DEFEATS DARK LORD"**_

"_James Potter, age 21, defeated Lord Voldemort last night as the latter was prepared to kill the Potters' young son Harry. The boy's father saved the whole Wizarding world, if not more. He will be remembered for a long time, as the Man-Who-Saved-Us-All. Long Live the Potters!"_

_The article also had a large picture of James, Lily and little Harry, a splitting image of James, with the messy hair and all, but with Lovely Lily's eyes._

_The old man slammed the paper on his desk and started pacing the room. This was not how he planned the meeting would go, especially since they have a higher position in the Wizengamot that he does. People would listen to the Man-Who-Saved-Us-All than Dumbledore, just this old fart. He had knowingly spoken to Sybil about the prophecy in the Hog's Head, where Severus would overhear, mention it to Voldemort, who in turn would go kill the Potters, Severus would beg him to spare Lily, after failing that, come to him, the Leader of the Light, and become a double agent. Voldemort would go to the Potters, kill James and Lily because Peter Pettigrew had told Voldemort about their hiding place, Lily's sacrifice would have protected Harry from the Dark Lord's Killing Curse, the spell would collide with Harry but after rebounding from the little boy, would in turn, kill the older Wizard. Then Harry would be taken to his aunt and uncle under the protection of a blood ward set forth by Lily's sacrifice. He would be abused there and would not have known love, which would make it more than ideal for when he came to Hogwarts, as he, Dumbledore, would be able to use his lack of love to manipulate the young boy to his advantage. The boy was supposed to be friends with the Weasleys, think of them as a surrogate family, but they had all sent a letter of appreciation to the Potters, seeming more like fans than fans. After he had paid the Weasleys, they STILL couldn't do what they were told. Why did nothing happen as _HE_ wanted? He would have to make do with the situation. Oh, this is not going to work…_

Yes, that was _supposed _to be the plan, damn James! Why did that stupid Marauder have to go and do something completely stupid that intervened with his plan?

The situation with the Weasleys was even more unhelpful. That stupid ginger went to Slytherin, instead of Gryffindor, where he was supposed to be, where he and Harry would have been friends and went on many life-threatening adventures together, bonding them. But no. Another dream snatched away from Dumbledore. This truly was inconvenient but he would manipulate Harry to his advantage.

The Weasley boy did come and ask to be put into Gryffindor. The Sorting Hat had been put on his head but it had said the same thing as last time; "You are a true Slytherin, pureblooded, cunning, and ambitious, even if not in academics, but the potential is there."

He would have to befriend Harry, but Severus tells him that the boys don't cooperate, and are quite mean to each other. _This is a problem,_ Dumbledore thought fiercely, _they HAVE to be friends! They will be friends if I have to meddle between them myself. _

The week quickly passed and Friday was here. After lunch, the 4 made their way to the Quidditch pitch. The Slytherins and some of the Gryffindors were already there. As they arrived, so did people from the other houses and Madam Hooch started the lesson.

"Welcome, first-years! This is your first and last flying lesson, so let's make this count." She started, "Stand next to a broom, shout "Up!" and it should come to you." She pointed to 2 rows of 15 brooms. The four friends rushed to get 4 broomsticks next to each other.

There was a chorus of "Up!"s in the field. Only a few brooms lifted, Harry, Hermione, and Draco being some of them. Neville was having some trouble, the broom only rolled on the ground. Harry just told him to call it with more confidence, and it worked instantly.

If Neville was having small trouble with the brooms, the Weasel was having no luck at all. When he shouted up at the broom, it didn't even move. Nothing happened to it. Nothing at all. Draco pointed Weasley out to his friends and they quietly sniggered at him, after all, he WAS a pureblood and had bragged about his wonderful flying abilities.

When everyone had gotten their broom up, they put them in between their legs and got in a ready position to fly.

"We will all rise about 5 feet up in the air and come straight down, before you fall and break something. Is that clear?" She glared at all the kids as if they would do that. "One, tw- Get down boy!" But it was too late. It turns out, Terry Boot, had been pretty nervous about flying and so he accidentally rose too high and couldn't stop rising. He kept going higher. 8 feet, 12 feet, 20 feet, until he fell down, hard. Whimpering.

"Nobody move while I take him to the Hospital Ward. Or you'll be out of here faster than you can say Quidditch." Madam Hooch threatened them.

"What a joke! I bet he's Muggleborn!" the Slytherins laughed.

"Shut it Weasel. I doubt you can do any better without mommy here." Taunted Harry.

Ronald turned red," Oh yeah? We'll see. Hey, what's this?" he picked up a crystal ball off the ground, near Neville's feet. "Looks like Schlongbottom lost his Remembrall." And he climbed on his broom levitating in the air, thinking of a place to put it.

"Hey! Give that back!" shouted all four. Neville felt comforted that his friends stuck up for him.

"Really? Why should I do that? You going to make me, Potter? Or will you Schlongbottom?" snickered Ronald. "You can barely stand on solid ground, you are incapable of flying no matter what."

"No, I am, actually." Said Hermione as she flew up to his level, perfectly calm. She saw a bit of fear in his eyes, as if he was nervous about flying. "Not so tough are you now, without your Apes around you, eh Weasel?"

"Shut it, Granger. You probably don't even know how to fly, you most likely read about this before coming here." Sneered Ron. She glared at him before charging full speed at him, giving him barely enough time to get out of the way. She simply smirked at his expression.

"Actually, _Weasley_, I happen to know more about Quidditch and Broomsticks than you do. And I have been riding for years. I could easily outrace you, even in these ancient school brooms. Now give me the Remembrall."

"You? You are nothing but a filthy little mudblood. But hey, if you want this thing that bad, go get it." and with that he threw the ball 50 meters into the air. She saw when it was falling and raced forwards to catch it just before it crashed into Flitwick's window, scaring the breath out of him. When she caught it, Hermione raced her hand to the crowd of first-years as a sign of success and simply turned around and flew towards them, all of whom were cheering on her, with the exception of the Slytherins.

"Hermione, WOW! I knew you were smart but never that you actually had skill. I honestly thought that was just talk." Exclaimed Draco.

Hermione simply shrugged at this while sitting on her broom, levitating a few feet above ground, throwing the Remembrall from one hand to the other before giving it back to Neville. "It was no biggie. Harry and I used to do this all the time."

"Speaking of which, you stole my move. I was actually going to do the whole superhuman catch thing. You know, proving that I am as awesome as Merlin." He winked at her, putting her arm around her shoulders. She simply shrugged once more, letting the arm rest there until suddenly, their 'party' was broken up by an uninvited 'guest'.

"GRANGER!" shouted Flitwick angrily as he ran towards the first-years. "_Never_- In all my time at Hogwarts-" He was almost speechless with shock and his glasses flashed furiously,"-how _dare_ you – might have broken your neck-"

"But Professor, She was only-" Harry started. Others around her were trying to do the same thing.

"It was the Weasels fault! Blame him!" said Draco

"It was my Remembrall she was getting back from Weasley, who had stolen it. Punish him!" Neville cried out.

"SILENCE! That's enough Mr. Potter, Mr. Malfoy and Mr. Longbottom. Ms. Granger, Come with me please." Said Flitwick, turning on his heel and walking back into the castle.

Hermione looked at Harry, Draco and Neville for support, Harry gave her hand a quick squeeze while the other two gave her reassuring smiles.

Hermione followed the small teacher to the other end of the school, leading up to the Charms corridor. He went to a door, knocked, poked her head in, and asked for Davies and a handsome boy with black hair Hermione came out. Hermione recognized him from her House, two year above her. Both of them looked fairly confused.

"Yes, Professor? What is it that you wanted to talk to me about?"

"Follow me, you two." He said simply and walked to the end of the corridor to an empty classroom. He motioned them to go in.

Inside they found Peeves, the poltergeist, writing rude words on the blackboard.

"Out Peeves!" he barked. Peeves only stuck his tongue out and left

"Ms. Granger, this is Roger Davies. Davies - I think I may have found you a Seeker!" Flitwick squeaked in an excited voice. Roger's expression changed from confusion to delight.

"Professor, are you serious?" Roger asked.

"This girl is a natural. I have never seen anything like it. Was that your first time on a broomstick?"

Hermione nodded, seeing if she wouldn't, they would look at the International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy persecute the Potters for revealing magic to Hermione before she had gotten her letter. She didn't want them to get in trouble, as they were the kindest people she had ever met.

"She caught a Remembrall from a 50 feet dive without a scratch on herself." Flitwick continued. "Charlie Weasley couldn't have done it."

Roger had an excited glint in his eyes.

"Have you ever seen a Quidditch game, Hermione ?" he asked.

"Davies is the Quidditch captain for Ravenclaw," Flitwick explained.

"She's built for a Seeker, too," said Davies, now walking around Hermione, and examining at her, "Light – speedy – we'll have to get her a good broom, Professor – a Nimbus Two Thousand or a Cleansweep Seven, I'd say."

"I shall speak to Professor Dumbledore and see if we can bend the first-year rule. Heaven knows, we need a better team this year, We were _flattened, _by Slytherin and Gryffindor last year. I couldn't look Severus Snape or Minerva McGonagall in the face for weeks…"

Flitwick peered sternly over his glasses at Hermione.

"I want to hear you're training hard, Granger, or I may change my mind about punishing you."

Then he suddenly smiled.

"Your parents should be proud. It's an extremely rare occurrence for a first-year to be on the Quidditch team. Especially a Muggleborn with no previous training. They should be proud."

"You're kidding!"

It was dinner time. Hermione had just told them what happened with Flitwick. Draco had a piece of pie on his fork at the time but he had completely forgotten about it.

"_Seeker?_" he said, "But first-years _never- _you must be the youngest house player in about-"

"- a century" Hermione finished. She just kept eating while Draco was staring at her in awe. "I get what the big deal is and I am excited but just chillax. It's not like I was named Head Girl or anything. Yet," She winked

Harry simply smirked at their exchange. He was used to this kind of thing from them, Hermione shows how awesome she is, and Draco stares at her like he's in love, only not really.

"I had no doubt that she would be the Ravenclaw seeker. I mean, she has a GPA too high to expel her." He joked.

Draco just sat there and gaped at her while the remaining two simply continued talking.

"So what's going to happen? Anything special? Do we have to call you Oh High and Mighty One now or something?" Harry teased.

Hermione simply replied with "No, not yet," she winked at him again, " I start training next week. Just don't tell anyone, Cho wants to keep it a secret."

"Well, I can see why; you are our secret weapon. You are the most important person in the game. Everyone else is important, but you are just like the MOST important. Even if it's by a teensy bit."

It didn't take long for the Weasel and his Apes to come and taunt her.

"Having a last meal Granger? When are you going back on the train to your filthy Muggle parents?" he sneered.

"You're a lot braver now that you're back on ground and you've got little friends with you." Hermione said coolly, not even turning around to face them. There was nothing little about Crabbe and Goyle, but as there were teachers at the High Table, neither of them could do anything more than crack their knuckles and scowl at them.

"I'd take you on anytime on my own, tonight, if you want. Wizard's duel. Wands only – no physical contact" said the Weasel.

_Not bloody likely _said Hermione, cringing inwardly. _Who would ever want to?_

"Unless, you're too big a chicken not to. You know what they say about Ravenclaws; too much brain and not enough brawn." Weasley taunted her.

"Is that what they say?" said Hermione, innocently. Harry knew she had something up her sleeve and it wasn't going to be pretty."What do they have to say about Slytherins then? Too ugly for a brain and too weak for any brawn?" she smirked at the Weasel, who was turning redder by the second. The Apes were also trying to look more and more dangerous

"Shut up! Midnight, the Trophy room, that's always kept open." And with that he left.

"Hermione! You can't be serious about going to this thing." said Harry. He knew how she could be stubborn when she wanted to. "It's probably a trap to get you into trouble."

"I know." Was all she replied to him, leaving him dumbstruck. She continued on with her dinner with an awed Draco on one side and a dumbstruck Harry on the other. After a while they snapped out of it and finished their dinner.

"I have to go to the Owlry to send my parents a letter about what happened today. Do you guys want to come? " Harry said yes without hesitation that Hermione began to wonder if he liked her more than a friend. _No, that's silly. This is HARRY we are talking about._ Draco, on the other hand, was gawking at another Slytherin girl. This time it was Pansy Parkinson. She too had black hair but her face was pug-like. She was also scowling at nothing in particular. "Well, that answers that question" muttered Hermione only loud enough for Harry to hear, who in turn, chuckled at their blonde friend.

The pair discussed Quidditch while walking up to the Owlry.

"What kind of model do you think you'll get?" he asked her.

"I don't know. Roger mentioned the new Nimbus or a Cleansweep 7, but since it _is_ Dumbledore, he will probably go for the Nimbus."

"You looked so in your element when you were flying up there." Harry blurted out, before blushing, looking embarrassed at his outburst.

"Thanks. It felt like it as well. I just love the wind." She said before a gust of wind blew from behind, blowing all her hair in her face. She simply giggled as she shook the hair back and did a simple turn with her eyes closed to embrace the wind as much as possible. While spinning, she tripped over a root and fell right into Harry's arms, who was just as shocked with the close proximity they were in. They stayed like that, staring in each others eyes until they remembered about their position. They sprang apart, walking a foot away from each other, in silence.

When they reached the Owlry, Hermione called her own owl, Hermes, and got out a piece of parchment and a quill.

_Dear Mom and Dad,_

_It's me, Hermione. I am writing from Hogwarts to tell you that I love it here and that I made the Quidditch team! It's all very exciting and I am the first first-year to be accepted onto the team in over a century! Isn't that amazing? I am having fun in my lessons, coming on top in every single one, followed shortly by Harry and Draco. I love and miss you both._

_Love,_

_Hermione_

_PS. If you could tell the Potters, I would be grateful!_

_PPS. Harry says hi!_

Harry, who was reading over her shoulder, said "But, I didn't say anything," breaking the awkward silence between them.

"I know," she shrugged, "but they like you and I added that so they know I still have friends at school." She said the same thing he did to her when she said that she hadn't said anything.

Harry just smiled and they walked back down to the school.

"Wait, Hermione?" said Harry, "what ARE you going to do about the Midnight duel?"

"Thanks Harry for reminding me!" she said, quickening her pace. "I knew it was a trap so I was going to go to Filch and tip him off that students will be in the trophy room at midnight."

"'Mione, you are positively evil. Has anyone ever told you that?"

"Maybe once or twice." She grinned at him and ran to the castle, he simply shook his head at her boldness and followed her.

They reached Filches office well before curfew and knocked on the door.

"Enter!" yelled Filch. "What'd you want?"

"Mr. Filch, we heard that a group of students was planning on meeting in the Trophy room at midnight." Hermione said in an unnaturally quiet voice, "Just thought you would be interested." And with that, the pair left Filch's office and ran to the common room before curfew so they wouldn't get in trouble.

When they walked through the door to the common room, they saw Draco by the fire, chatting with Terry and Anthony.

"There you are. Why do you always ditch me at dinner?" was the first thing that came out of Draco's mouth when he noticed them.

"We wouldn't have to ditch you if you wouldn't keep gawking at Slytherin chicks like there's no tomorrow," replied Harry with a smirk.

Draco chose to ignore Harry and all the catcalls from the Ravenclaw boys. "Pull up a chair and tell us what you were doing." Hermione and Harry had to sit next to each other, as the loveseat was the only piece of furniture not taken around the fireplace. Hermione noticed that she actually liked being in such a close proximity to Harry and scooted a tad closer so she was kind of snuggling into him. He, unconsciously, put his arm around her. Even though they didn't notice it themselves, Hermione's friends did.

"We went to the Owlry to send my parents a letter about Quidditch and then to tip off Filch about Weasley." Hermione replied while taking one of her books from the table and starting to read it. After a few seconds of complete silence from them, she sighed and lowered the book, to find that their friends, fellow Ravenclaws, were staring at her in shock."What is it today? Stare-at-Hermione day or something?"

"No, not that I'm aware of, but you are pretty badass today," said Terry, the first of the boys to stop staring, "First the Quidditch thing, now this! By the way, what happened?"

"What I am about to say must not leave these four walls. Until the first Quidditch game of the season, that is." Hermione said in a low voice, calm and so low, it was almost threatening. "I am the Ravenclaw seeker!"

A chorus of "No way!"s and "You're joking!" filled the room, as well as many congratulatory wishes as well.

After the excitement over Quidditch had died down, they group separated and went to their dorms. Before the girls fell asleep, they started gossiping about the year. Hermione joined in willingly to talk to her friends about something else besides academics. Mandy, Morag, Su, Lisa and Padma were really funny but they sure did hear quite a few rumors.

"I hear Lavender Brown had got a thing for redheads! She was positively flirting with Weasley during the Flying Lesson. "Oh, Ronald. Am I holding the broom right?" and "Oh Ronny - I can call you that right? – , I am afraid of heights, will you catch me if I fall?"" Lisa pinched her nose, putting on a high pitched voice, pretending to be Lavender. The girls giggled at her.

"She's not as bad as Pansy Parkinson, that pug-faced girl. She is absolutely horrendous. Did you see how Draco was looking at her? Like she was the prettiest girl in the world, while she was scowling at her food." Said Padma.

"It seems as though Draco likes girls with dark hair in Slytherin. He was staring at Daphne Greengrass a while back." Added Hermione.

"No! He wouldn't! But- but Slytherins are evil!" said Mandy.

"No, not really. We only think they are evil because most of them followed Voldemort and these are the Death Eaters' offspring. But I have read up on it and Slytherins were just as nice as any other house, they were ambitious, cunning people." Explained Hermione. "A house doesn't make you a bad person, neither does your image or who you like."

"Wow, where did you find that?" asked Su.

"In the Library, of course." said Hermione, in a posh kind of accent. "Why, it's where the greatest things in the world can be found!"

After a while of impersonating people, the girls started discussing guys.

"Who do you think is the hottest guy in our grade?" asked Morag.

"Draco's quite attractive, that blonde hair and all." Said Mandy.

"Blaise Zambini. He's pretty cute," replied a blushing Padma.

"I think Terry's quite good-looking" said Su shyly.

"I think Seamus is just adorable, the way he always blows things up." Giggled Lisa.

"Anthony isn't bad. And Neville is quite nice as well." Said Morag.

"Who do you think is the hottest guy Hermione?" asked Padma.

Hermione felt cornered as all the girls looked at her, waiting for her answer. "I don't know. I guess Harry is kind of cute…" Hermione blushed furiously as she said this.

"Oh you are so cute together! We saw you walking out of the Great Hall together. What were you REALLY doing once you left Draco alone?" winked Lisa.

"Oh you guys! Nothing is going on with me and Harry. We are just best friends! We did got to the Owlry to send my parents a letter."

"Oh yeah. We will totally believe that because we didn't see you snuggling on the loveseat in the common room like an hour ago."

"Are you sure there is nothing you aren't telling us?" persisted Su.

"Yes! Well, maybe. No! I don't know." Replied Hermione slightly defeated from the mind-boggling topic of boys.

"Here, have some chocolate. Ice cream is best for boy problems but chocolate is a close second." Said Mandy as she handed Hermione a bar of chocolate.

"Well, we did kind of have a moment, on the way there. I was spinning around, enjoying the wind, when I tripped over a root and fell straight into his arms. We stood there, me kind of held by him, just staring into each other's eyes. That was kind of ruined when he realized our position, put me back, standing straight, and we continued to walk awkwardly to the Owlry. It was pretty sweet because he complimented me earlier about how I was in my element on the broom." Described Hermione. Meanwhile the girls, all with a small piece of chocolate in their hands, were looking at Hermione with an I'm-happy-for-you face.

"Aww!" the girls chorused.

There was a moment before they exploded with questions.

"Are you going to go out?"

"Do you love him?"

"Have you snogged yet?"

"Are you going to go to the Halloween dance with him?"

"More importantly, what are you going to wear?"

"Guys please! One at a time." Said Hermione, feeling extremely overwhelmed.

The girls repeated their answers and Hermione answered simply to each.

"Not yet," with a wink.

"I don't know. I am only 12!"

"No, of course I haven't."

"If he asks me, I might."

"I don't know but I have a month to decide and you guys to help me." The girls exploded into conversation.

"She should wear something light blue, periwinkle blue. It'll look lovely."

"No, no no! Something emerald green, to go with his eyes!"

"Guys! It's midnight already and I want to be awake for class tomorrow, if you don't mind." Hermione joked, and the girls said their good nights and all went to bed, exhausted from all that gossip.

Hermione was still awake ten minutes later, thinking of everything that had happened that day. She was particularly over-thinking the questions her friends asked her. _Are you going to go out? I would love to but boys are so immature at 11. Do you love him? I just might. Have you snogged yet? I can't, it might ruin our friendship. Are you going to the Halloween dance with him? If only he'd ask me. _Hermione put her thoughts of Harry away and tried to fall asleep. _Goodnight Harry._

Unknowingly to Hermione, Harry was thinking similar things about his best friend. Oh, how he wanted to hold her hand, maybe even sneak a chaste kiss every so often. _But I can't!_ He thought, _She doesn't think of me as more than a friend and I value our friendship too much to ruin it by trying something that will probably never work out. I couldn't do that to her. We're best friends!_ After inwardly cursing himself he finally closed his eyes and went to sleep. _Goodnight Hermione._

**A/N: So there. Another chapter down, a gazillion more to go! I know I am evil for the cliffie but you know you love the suspense. What did you think of Badass Hermione? I felt like she was unappreciated in the series, that there's more to her than just a bookworm. Draco's got it bad for Slytherins hehe and Ron's still a douche.**

**Thanks for reading and Review please for my sanity and if you want this to go on after chapter 10, I need 50 reviews min. Also I have a poll on my profile about this story. Tell me what you think!**

**Sorry about the fails, I wrote this at 11pm so yeah...**

**Xoxo**

**Elle**


	9. Hermione's Birthday

**A/N: I swear I am stopping this story if I only get 6 reviews per chapter. It doesn't seem worth it. Just saying. Also, the quiz is up and can I PLEASE have 50 (or more, you know, more never hurts!) reviews until chapter 10? I would feel so inspired; I would like write all of spring break! Also the poll is up, and excuse the last chapter as I had to reupload it and I failed it :{P mustache XD :^\ Snape hehe**

**This is fun XD ):-) And that, is a Hogwarts student :D ENJOY!**

Chapter 9

Albus was sitting at his desk, thinking over what Flitwick had just told him.

"_Albus, can we have one exception to the first-year broomstick rule? As Ms. Granger is an excellent flier and we really do need a good seeker on our team. Merlin knows we were flattened by all the other teams in the previous years," _he had said, _"The girl is Muggleborn, you see, and we need to buy her a broom. I was thinking either a Cleansweep Seven or a Nimbus Two Thousand. They are both excellent racing brooms and it's just what we need."_

The meddling with Potter didn't come cheap; in fact, this girl was the most expensive part of the whole plan! But he had to pretend to be the jolly, good, old grandfatherly-type Headmaster and therefore HAD to buy that little brat her broomstick.

"_Sure,_" he had replied before the small professor left. He started filling out an order for the Nimbus all the while mumbling to himself about the cost, knowing it won't do any good to anyone.

Why had it happened like that, he didn't know. But how could he have predicted that Tom would go down the easy way? He didn't think the younger wizard had enough regret, guilt or compassion left in him. This changed everything. He would have to alter anything he had already planned for Potter. This was not working!

The next morning, Hermione woke up slightly exhausted from yesterday's events, surrounded by her roommates.

"AH!" she screamed. "What is wrong with you? Why do you stalk people when they are sleeping? Seriously, not funny!"

Her friends just giggled.

Lisa, being the first to recover from a fit of giggles, said, "Well, you _were_ talking in your sleep, so we were curious but you chose that moment in time to wake up."

Hermione paled slightly. She had been prone to talking in her sleep and it was always something that people remembered about her. "Wha-what did I say, may I ask?"

It was Morag who answered. "You may have mentioned a certain black-haired, green-eyed boy..."

The girls started giggling again as they sat on the bed waiting for gossip.

"Can you please not tell him?" asked Hermione, when she got over the shock.

"Sure," they chorused,

"We get how hard a crush is, not knowing whether he likes you or not, being embarrassed, we get it." said Padma.

"I...I just don't know what to do," confessed Hermione "I have always been the smart one but now I am the clueless one. I don't know what to do about my crush on Harry."

The girls were deep in thought for a second before telling her each proposition.

"Ask him out."

"Forget about him."

"Date other guys."

"Yeah! Make him jealous."

Su was the only one that hadn't said anything. When the girls looked at her expectantly, she took a breath and said what was on her mind.

"Don't make him jealous. Flirt a little over the next week and if he doesn't respond, forget about him for now. Boys are stupid at eleven. They don't know anything girl-related. Just focus on school work and understanding guys in general."

This single statement brought a whole new perspective on Harry and boys in general to Hermione. _This is exactly what I have to do!_ She thought.

"Thanks Su! That sounds manageable." Said Hermione. "I don't think I could face rejection. I mean, we have been friends since we were 3."

"Wow, that is pretty amazing. The only people that have known me that long are family friends but they aren't that close," Said Padma.

"I am kind of getting bored with this boy-talk," said Morag, "Let's talk about something that is happening soon."

"Such as?" questioned one of the other girls.

"Such as, Hermione's BIRTHDAY!" Lisa exclaimed.

Hermione groaned. She was expecting something like this. It wasn't as though she didn't like her birthday, but it was her pals that had everything to do with it. Her friends were known to go overboard with her birthday, as it was the first non-school event they could celebrate at the new school.

"Guys, PLEASE don't make a major deal out of this. I just want a small group party with a few of my friends. And by that I mean, just the first-year Ravenclaws. And Neville and" She said cheekily, earning a playful swat on the arm from Mandy, while the other girls were just smiling at her. It was amazing how Hermione lit up the room, even at 7:30 AM.

Harry's awakening was slightly different to that of Hermione's. He wasn't surrounded by a group of girls, or boys. He simply woke up from a pleasant dream of his favourite bucktooth bushy-haired friend.

He groaned inwardly when he realized who he was thinking about. _She's your friend_ he thought fiercely,_ she doesn't like you. She is your smart female best friend who doesn't like you at all. Just forget about how pretty she is until you can handle it. Move on for a while.__ I just hope this will work, _he though with his face in his palms.

Unknown to him, someone noticed Harry's metal dilemma. Draco looked at Harry with pity. He was a catch to girls, with the knowledge from James and Sirius; he could get any girl he wanted. But he lacked courage. No wonder he wasn't in Gryffindor. He couldn't even talk to the girl he liked!

_Oh well, _he sighed inwardly,_ let's just hope today won't be awkward. _

Harry got dressed fairly quickly and quietly. Draco was still asleep, like every morning. The blonde preferred to sleep in. Currently he was half sleeping on the bed, half dangling off the sides. Harry smirked at his friend.

His Marauder side came out for just a second but it was long enough to convince him to play a miniature prank on him. Harry quickly got out a paintbrush and dipped it in a batch of paint. Harry was laughing inwardly as he drew a French mustache on his friend as well as a bunch of letters on his forehead. They spelled out BLONDE. While Harry could still control his laughter, he grabbed his backpack and ran downstairs, only to find Hermione in a big, squishy, blue armchair with a book no less.

"Um, hey," Harry greeted her. Hermione was so engrossed in her book that she didn't notice Harry. "Hermione? Hey. Hello? HERMIONE!"

"Huh? What? Oh, Harry. Hi." She said as she put her book down on the coffee table and went over to give him a hug. Harry felt self-conscious for a second before he relaxed and returned the hug.

"So," he started, while rubbing the back of his head, "What are you doing here so early? I thought girls needed their beauty sleep." He teased.

"Oh no, I'm pretty enough already," she retorted. Harry chuckled nervously, wondering if she could read his mind.

"So, what are you reading today," he quickly changed the subject, "It must be good since it's under a thousand pages."

"Oh yeah, it's wonderful but I am just rereading _Hogwarts, A History_. It's my favorite book. Do you want to borrow it? It's really good, especially the parts about the secret passageways…" she drifted off.

"Give me that book" he said. Hermione handed over the book, laughing. He skimmed through the book in a few minutes before handing it back to her. "There's nothing about secret passageways."

"I know," Hermione giggled at an amused Harry. "I just wanted to have that in my mind; you reading _Hogwarts, A History._ Merlin knows Draco won't read it."

"Too true. Speak of the devil…"

Draco was practically frothing at the mouth. The paint was still on his red face." POTTER! WHAT DID I DO TO YOU?"

Hermione was rolling on the ground, laughing at the blonde. "You- you did this?" she asked before bursting out into laughter again. This did not help the situation a bit.

"Oh har har har. Let's make fun of Malfoy because he likes sleep." Draco said sarcastically, "Now, take it off!"

"And what would you propose I do?" asked Harry, feigning innocence.

"I'll tell you what I propose if you don't take it off." Growled Draco

"Well that's nice." Harry said pleasantly before turning to Hermione. "What did you write for the DADA homework? I need a few more inches."

"Hello? Still painted on here!" interrupted Draco, "Seriously man, how do you get it off?"

"Well, there is such a thing called water," said Hermione smirking as she had finally calmed down. "You take a sponge, dip it in the water, and then you rub it all over the paint marks, which will take them off. After a while," Hermione muttered quietly the last part so only Harry could hear.

Draco took that as good advice and ran up the stairs to the boys' dorm bathroom, effectively kicking out whoever was in there at the time. But he noticed as he rubbed the sponge on his face, the markings weren't coming out. Her glared at his reflection before screaming "POTTER!" in anger.

The two in the common room snickered as they heard this.

"'Mione, we might want to get out of the common room. When he comes down here, it ain't going to be pretty," Harry warned her. Hermione nodded and grabbed her back of book and they left before Draco could see them.

It was Hermione's birthday, a week after the Draco incident, as everyone called it. Draco was still a tad sour from the prank but he got over it as soon as he started thinking of revenge plans.

Harry and Hermione were comfortable around each other now that all of the who-likes-who awkwardness was gone from their friendship. They had both compromised with themselves to forget about their feelings and just be best friends until a later date.

On the afternoon of Hermione's birthday, her friends had prepared a party, a small one, but still a party. They had party hats, Exploding Snap, some snacks from the kitchens, and a banner that said 'Happy Birthday, Hermione!' and Terry had used a charm they had just learned to make it change color.

Harry was in on the surprise party and he had the lovely task of keeping Hermione busy until the party was set up. Other people had to tell the other Ravens what was going on and some had to set up the common room for a party. Harry felt his job was fairly simple; all he had to do was chill with his best friend until 8, all alone, and then bring her up to the party. In reality, it was just that simple. All they did was do homework, joke around and talk for the hour after dinner.

Harry looked at his watch at 7:55, and he started putting his books back in his bag."Um, Hermione? Let's go back to the Tower," the Tower being the nickname for the common room, seeing as it was in the highest tower of Hogwarts. "If we don't Madam Pince will get mad at us for staying after curfew, and we might run into Filch…" he drifted off, because she noticed him and had already started packing away. Harry noticed that her bag was quite full with heavy books and that she _still_ had books to carry in her arms. He, being chivalrous, took them out of her hands and carried them himself before she could object. He simply smiled at her and continued to carry her books all the way to the Tower. While they chatted on the way to the dorm, Harry checked his watch on the last staircase on the way to the common room. It said it was 7:59 before changing to 8:00. They answered the riddle and walked straight inside before being surrounded by yells of "Surprise!"

Hermione was surprised, to say the least. She knew her friends had something up their sleeves but she hadn't expected it to be a surprise party! Her and Harry's family were used to having kids parties but it was normally small groups, just Harry and his sisters, Hermione, Draco and his sister and a friend or two from school. And they certainly never had such a big group of people surprising her on her birthday.

"Aw thanks, you guys!" she exclaimed as she ran towards her friends to give them a big hug. "This is so cool! I love the color changing charm, Terry!" she told Terry, who in turn blushed. "Thank you so much. You have no idea what this means to me. I love it!" she ran and hugged both Harry and Draco before the Ravenclaws started to eat and talk.

The Trio talked with the members of the Quidditch team. Along with Roger Davies, the chaser and captain, there was a second year girl, Cho Chang who was the back-up Seeker. Grant Page was the keeper, Jason Samuels and Duncan Inglebee played as Beaters. The other chasers were Randolph Burrow and Jeremy Stretton. The Trio was impressed by the older students and Hermione especially, was relieved that her teammates were so nice and welcoming.

"I told you she was a little devil," grinned Davies. "She had to be since she got on the team. As a first year! That is an incredible feat. You are the first one to get on the team in a century! And I don't think a Muggleborn has ever done so!" Hermione was blushing throughout his speech about her. She ducked her head in Harry's shoulder. Cho and her friend Marietta exchanged a knowing look. This made Hermione, who had taken her head away from Harry's shoulder; get a pink tinge in her cheeks.

Harry noticed this as his mind started wandering._ What? Does this mean she actually _does_ like me? Or did she blush because they were thinking of her and _me?_ Girls are so confusing!_ He thought.

After a few hours of celebration, the students went to bed, but not before wishing Hermione a happy birthday. Harry saw her getting ready to leave and quickly dashed upstairs to get her present. To his amazement, he saw Draco there. He was laying on his bed, with the paint marks still on his face. He turned a slightly reddish color and glared at Harry when he noticed him.

"It doesn't come off! You stinking liars!" Draco accused him. "Why did you have to play this on me? Weasley is here and you like him less than anyone else!"

"Calm down, blondie," started Harry but stopped as soon he saw Draco looking murderous, "You can too erase it. I should know, I made a counter curse for this spell."

"It-it's a spell?" gawked Draco for a second. "Well, you could've told me that this morning before I ran to Madam Pomfrey to try and get a cure! _Finite Incantatem!_"

"Won't work," said Harry while he searched for Hermione's present. He knew she wouldn't stick around an empty common room for long.

And true to his word, Draco's counter curse didn't work. "Why? Why won't it work? What spell is it?"

"It's the Stick-Face spell. I made it myself, with a bit of help from the Marauders" explained Harry, "I drew everything on your face with a paintbrush and normal paint before I used the spell. All the spell does is not let you wash anything off your face. It doesn't paint it."

"That is magnificently evil. Try it on the Weasel tomorrow?" suggested Draco mischievously.

"Sure, but I thought you wanted your face to be clean again first," joked Harry.

"Enough with the jokes. Just remove the spell." Said Draco.

"Okay, here goes. _Levis Visio_._ Levis Visio_._ Levis Visio_." Chanted Harry as he pointed his wand at his friend's face and Draco waited for something to happen."What are you waiting for?"asked Harry

"My face to be clean." Said Draco as if he was telling a 6 year old what 2 plus 2 was. "Duh."

**A/N: Quick note, The Stick-Face spell is one of my own making! The incantation is ****Virga Visio**** and the counter curse is **_**Levis Visio**_**. For it to work, you have to say it 3 times and point your wand at the person's face. It lasts for a week, max. On with the story**

"Well, then you should wash it, cuz the spell is off." Harry said before he grabbed Hermione's present and ran down to the common room.

When he got there, Hermione was just walking towards the girls dorms.

"Hermione!" Harry said loud enough to get her attention. She turned her head and walked over to him.

"Yeah, Har? What's up?" she asked.

"Here," he said as he handed he the present. "Happy Birthday, 'Mione." He hugged her and climbed back upstairs to check up on Draco, to see if he was rubbing his face raw.

"Dude, stop." Harry told Draco when he saw him. "You could have just said Scourgify. It's the cleaning spell. I still think it was appropriate to write BLONDE on your face" he said with a grin while Draco simply glared at him once more before scourgifying his face.

Hermione was slightly confused and flushed from Harry's quick gift. _Why did he give it to me without any explanation? It isn't like Harry at all. I wonder what he's got in mind._

When Hermione reached her dorm room, the first thing she noticed was the pile of presents on her bed.

"Are all of those for me?" she asked her giggling roommates, all who nodded enthusiastically. Hermione opened one by one, read the note, and thanked the gift-giver. After the last present, she realized she still had to open Harry's present. _I better do it later, when no one is watching. Who knows what he might have given me?_ she thought.

As it was pretty late and the girls had a tiring day, they went to sleep without much ado. Hermione stayed awake until she knew the others were asleep before she opened Harry's present.

It was a beautiful charm bracelet. It was bare besides from a single charm. It was a little blue gem, sapphire, her birthstone. Hermione knew Harry had to have done some research as to the precise stone for her. It was touching how much a single present meant to her._ Although, it's not just the present_, she thought,_ it's the person who gave it to me._

Harry's note was nice as well;

_Dear Hermione,_

_Happy Birthday!_

_I hope you had a wonderful day and got everything you hoped for. This charm bracelet will be one of the things that doesn't end today or anytime soon, like our friendship. I will keep adding charms when I see fit, for occasions like your birthday, Christmas and others. _

_Love,_

_Harry_

Hermione was speechless by the thoughtfulness of the gift. Harry gave her something for both of them, something that connected them both. It was sweet. She decided to wear it every single day, just to show him she liked it.

**A/N: OK, the chapter is done! YAY! FINALLY! Whew! It was exhausting! I had writer's block for a week! It was soooo annoying! I couldn't write anything worth a damn. Anyway, It's finally up, so Read and Review!**


	10. Quidditch World Cup

Chapter 10

The following weeks were a blur for the Trio. Hermione, as well as being the Quidditch star, was still getting top marks in all her classes, followed by Harry and Draco. Professor Snape was even acting nicer since Lily decided to visit the school and tell her old classmate off for bullying her son. He was even downright fair now, telling Slytherins off for bad behavior, as well as everyone else.

The day of the Halloween Feast, as well as being totally psyched, people were also looking at Harry more than often. He was not oblivious to these and he confronted his friends at lunch, after people started giving him pitying glances.

"Ok, what is going on?" he asked "Why is everyone staring at me, more than usual, that is?"

Hermione shot a nervous glance to Draco before she answered.

"Well, today is Halloween. But also the day Riddle went after you and your parents, Harry." She explained.

He hit his forehead with his palm, as if he just remembered the occasion.

"You're right. I completely forgot. How could I when I have a walking reminder every DADA class?"

"Well mate, we tend to forget things that aren't pleasant," added Draco simply.

"Draco's right, as weird as it sounds," Hermione teased the blonde, who stuck his tongue out at her in return, "But you have got to forget about this. It doesn't matter. You are still just Harry to us."

Harry looked at his friends with gratitude before giving them both a huge hug.

"Thanks you guys. You mean the world to me."

After the tips from his friends, Harry began to enjoy the day, forgetting about all the stares.

The rest of the year passed strangely fast. Christmas break was fun, in a word, because Harry had convinced his parents to invite over the Malfoys and Grangers, along with the usual Christmas guests, Sirius, Mooney and Tonks, Mooney's wife. Harry's sisters were overjoyed that he was back and persecuted him with questions about Hogwarts. He said plenty to intrigue them but not enough to reveal too much, which left the girls anxious for their days at the school. When they came back, Hermione had proclaimed that, in her seven years, she will read through the entire library. Draco didn't believe her, but Harry seemed up to the challenge she proposed. He had already read through an impressive amount and wasn't that far behind her. He told her whoever was first to read through all of the books, not counting the ones in the Restricted section, would win the bet and get a prize, something they hadn't quite chosen yet. Draco, now interested, decided to bet on Hermione, rather than Harry. The latter simply smirked and left to get a head start on the books.

Over Easter break, the Trio had a tight schedule of studying non-stop. Only when Draco and Harry felt they could recite every class book by heart, did Hermione ease up on the studying.

During the exams, they came in the Top 3, which came to no surprise to anyone. Ravenclaw won the Quidditch Cup but came in second for the House cup, 15 points behind Gryffindor.

The following years were just as calm, and both boys tried out for the Quidditch team, but didn't make it because they were a bit too young. Ravenclaw won again for the second year in a row and this time, got the House Cup as well. Everyone was overjoyed.

It was their first week of fourth year, and they had all grown up considerably. Hermione's hair had calmed down since first year, and she had a sudden growth spurt over the summer. She would've outgrown them, had they not had growth spurts of their own. Draco was the tallest, a few inches taller than Harry, who in turn was a few inches taller than Hermione. Draco's blonde hair had grown out considerably, nearing his ears, which gave him a shaggy impression. Harry's hair was as untamable as ever and even longer than Draco's.

When they met up for the Quidditch World Cup, they all stayed in one tent, just because the Potters' tent could house Draco and his mother, Hermione, Remus and Tonks, Sirius and the Potters themselves. It was like one big party.

The big match between Ireland and Bulgaria ended with Ireland winning but Krum, the Bulgarian Seeker, catching the Snitch. The crowd went crazy with cheers for both teams. After the game, everyone went back to have a party. They were all dancing and laughing until they heard some screams outside.

"It's probably the Irish celebrating." Sirius said with a grin. "I'll check it out anyway. James? Tonks? Moony? You coming?"

The group of Aurors left the tent to inspect what happened. The screaming didn't stop; it just got louder, as if it was getting closer.

A second later, the group ran in, shouting "Get out! Run into the forest! Grab your wands! Don't put them down! Be on the lookout! Run!"

When everyone left the tent, the first things they saw was chaos. Tents were burning, people burning and Harry even saw some people floating above everything, faced just coated with pure mind-numbing terror. He cringed before Hermione and Draco pulled on his arms towards the forest. They quickly ran the last few hundred feet and crouched in the darkness, panting.

"Harry? Hermione? Girls? Harriet! Hannah!" They heard a voice scream in desperation. Only Lily sounded like that.

"Draco? Draco! Answer me son!" said another voice.

"Mum, we're here!" shouted Harriet. She was now going into her Third year at Hogwarts. She followed he brother's footsteps and was sorted into Ravenclaw.

"Harriet? Who's with you?" Lily shouted back, getting closer. They could hear her running.

"We are all here! Harry, Hermione, Draco, Harriet, and me." answered Hannah. She was going to go to Hogwarts this year. She couldn't be more excited.

"Oh kids! Thank heavens you're alright!" Narcissa cried out. She rushed over, completely out of breath, and squeezed the life out of Draco. He was squirming with cries of "Mother, can't breathe," and "Help me," which made his friends only snicker more.

Lily also ran over, out of breath, and instead of focusing on one child took Harry Hermione and the girls in one big bear hug, kissing them on the head and mumbling things like, "Thank God you're alright," and "… should never've left you…"

Harry was first to cry out. "Mum! We are OK! Please stop with the death grip." After Lily relented, he asked where James and Co. went.

"Since they are Ministry officials, they had to calm down the situation and find out what's going on." Lily huffed. She thought it was downright careless to have plenty of people working and yet, they had to call in others who were on vacation.

"But what happened?" asked Hermione, "Wasn't there a lot of security around here?"

"Well Hermione, there was a lot of security. That's what baffles everyone. How could someone organize something like this, under all the security measures put in place?" replied Lily.

A second after she finished her sentence, a group of wizards surrounded them, yelling '_Stupefy!_', pointing their wands at them. The younger girls ducked while everyone else conjured a shield to block the spells aimed at them.

"What is the meaning of this?" yelled Lily at the wizards.

A man in a bowler hat acted as if he hadn't heard her, choosing instead to point his wand at everyone in turn, yelling, "Which of you conjured it?"

James and Sirius suddenly Apparated into the area, running to the group.

"Lily!" he shouted "Are you all alright?"

Sirius turned to the bowler hat guy and glared at him. "What is the meaning of this?" he demanded "On what grounds are you holding these _children_ at wandpoint?"

"It was them," he muttered, "They conjured it."

"Conjured what?" asked Harry at the same moment as James exclaiming "Crouch, you_ cannot_ be serious!"

"Harry," whispered Hermione, "It's _the_ Mark. It's _his_ Mark."

**A/N: So thanks for all the reviews but I have some things to tell you guys. I have exams so I won't be updating often, until June 15****th ****but probably later. Also I am kind of losing inspiration and plot twists for this story so I will write some one-shots and other stuff until I get my mojo back. **

**Also, I will update from my blog most of the time, so if you need to tell me something, I don't check fanfiction mail too often so send me a message at my Tumblr (.com/) or Blog (.com/)**

**Virtual cookies for anyone who found the magic word. Tell me so I know.**


	11. Teasing the Lot

A/N: After a very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, VERY long hiatus, I have decided to continue writing it whether or not I have inspiration. This is just something that I have to finish.

So let me just say sorry for making you wait and breaking all my promises of updating and thank you for not unfollowing this story :)

And I just realized that I added Tonks in the last chapter… For the purposes of this story, imagine she's only like 4 years younger than Moony. And they already have had Teddy. He is 8 in '94.

For the remainder of the summer, the normally calm and light atmosphere at the Potters' was gone. A tense and heavy one replaced it. Moony was more high-strung than usual, even Sirius was more serious.

But despite the on-edge demeanor in the house, the Potter parents still tried to make the kids forget about recent events. The Potter kids and their friends, who were staying over, were always doing something. There was never a moment of peace. There were impromptu games of Quidditch in the backyard, as well as many muggle games, such as football and soft ball.

Hermione and Harry collapsed into a comfy armchair after a particularly rigorous game of one-on-one basketball.

"Wow, I can't believe I am saying this, but I can't wait to go back to school." Sighed Harry.

"Why?" Hermione asked.

"Mum and dad are always pushing us to do something here. Ever since the World Cup."

"Everything changed since the fire nation attacked." Hermione murmured under her breath.

"What?" Harry looked at her strangely.

"Nothing. I just think they just don't want you to think about what happened too much. I mean, we are still kids." She replied.

"I guess you're right." He agreed.

"Now come on, grab a book before they find us," she giggled and pulled him up from his chair. He laughed along and let himself be pulled to the family library.

For the next hour they sat together on the couch, Hermione leaning against Harry and both of them deep in their own world.

"There you two are!" Lily burst into the room, startling the pair. "We've been calling and looking for you two for the past 15 minutes. It's dinnertime."

The three made their way downstairs to the dining room.

"I found them!" she announced. Every other resident and guest in the house came running and exploded into chatter.

"Where were you?"

"You missed our game of basketball!"

"What were you doing so long?"

"WERE YOU MAKING OUT?"

That last one came from Teddy, who had spent a little too much time around his Uncle Padfoot.

The teens in question blushed red to their hairlines.

"No we weren't!" Harry protested. "We were just reading in the library and we lost track of time."

James nudged Padfoot in the background, with a shit-eating grin on his face.

"Pay up, Pads," he said with an outstretched hand, palm up. "I told you they'd get together summer before fourth year."

"Dad!" Harry exclaimed, turning redder by the second, "You're unbelievable! I just said that we aren't dating. We were just reading while sitting next to each other."

"Son, I don't know how many times I used that excuse back in school," James put his arm around Harry in a patronizingly clichéd move.

""I'm terribly sorry we're late, Professor McGonagall,"" Sirius imitated James, who laughed, ""Lily was just explaining the Charms homework to me and we lost track of time." How many times did that work before she caught on? With your messier-than-usual hair, and your disheveled uniform, I am surprised she believed you even once," Sirius let out a loud guffaw, making the couple blush faintly.

"So, you see Harry," Sirius took over James' 'fatherly' position with his hand on Harry's shoulder, "Don't worry about finding the right time to tell all of us about your and Hermione's secret relationship. We like her. The pressure's off kid,"

"Oh, honestly, you lot!" Hermione had had enough. She stood with her arms crossed across her chest and was tapping her foot impatiently. "How many times does this poor little boy-"

"Oi!" Harry cried out. "I'm not that small!"

"-have to explain this simple concept to you? We. Are. Not. Dating. Capisce? " Hermione continued as if she was never interrupted.

But she had learned the stern tone from being around Lily and McGonagall so the two overgrown children hung their heads in defeat and nodded.

"Now that that's taken care of," Lily smiled at Hermione. Harry would be lucky to snag her. She really was the perfect girl for him. "The food's getting cold. Dig in!"

Dinner passed as loud and boisterous as usual. Everyone was trying to get a word in at the same time.

The adults talked mostly about work and the kids about school. Hannah was going to be a first year and she tried to find out all she could from her older siblings and Hermione.

"Please tell me something!" she begged them. "What's Hogwarts like? Is Dumbledore really as mad as Mummy makes him out to be? What subjects will I have? Will I make friends?"

"Did Uncle Padfoot feed you some of his gummy bears again? You know, the ones he fills with Russian Vodka and just disguises the taste?"

"No!"

That came from the other side of the table. Sirius was looking intently at Lily.

"I have not offered any underage wizards or witches any food or drink that may contain intoxicating substances." He said, though it sounded like he memorized it, or had it brainwashed into him.

"Good boy, Padfoot," Lily smirked at him while everyone else cracked up. The first and last time Sirius gave one of the Potter kids a gummy bear with some Russian vodka, Lily threatened to castrate him herself if he ever gave one of them to her kids again.

As Lily started serving dessert, a large chocolate cake with frosting, the conversation turned towards the next school year, which the adults were discussing quite heatedly.

"I'm just saying, I would have LOVED to participate if this was going on when we were at school," Sirius exclaimed. "It's a once in a lifetime opportunity. Encourage them for once! Where's that Gryffindor heritage?"

"No, Sirius. They are impressionable kids and they don't need to try to get themselves killed." Said Lily firmly.

"What's going on? Are you talking about us? Is something happening at school?" asked Hannah, always excited when Hogwarts was discussed.

"You'll find out when you get to school. And I FORBID you from participating!"

"Well, if you don't tell us what it is, then the only way we can find out is by participating." Sing-song-ed Harriet. "You know the saying 'Curiosity killed the cat', Mum. And we are very curious…"

"Oh, Lil, loosen up. Nothing bad will happen if we just tell them what's going to happen at school a few weeks early." James said.

"Fine," she conceded. "The Tri-Wizard Tournament will take place at Hogwarts this year. But you still aren't allowed to even _think _about entering that suicide mission. I don't know what Dumbledore was thinking. Maybe he finally has gone batty…" she trailed off.

"The Tri-Wizard Tournament?" Hermione asked. "I read about that. It's a series of challenges that one champion from each participating school has to go through before a champion is crowned. The challenges are really dangerous and people have died… Why _does_ Dumbledore want to restart the Tournament almost immediately after a Death Eater attack at the Quidditch World Cup?"

"He planned this way before; this is kind of a big thing to organize, the Ministry of Foreign Collaboration is working with Dumbledore about when and how they're going to arrive. This is something almost as big as the World Cup. Everyone at the Ministry is fairly anxious about what happened but they're not calling the Tournament off because they don't want to acknowledge that there is some kind of danger on the horizon." Moony told her.

"That's stupid and they're just toying with people's lives by withholding information." Hermione exclaimed.

"That's the Ministry of Magic."

A/N: Okay, I know this is super short but I really couldn't think of what else to write and you guys are really anxious, I can tell. So I am posting this, as-is, and I'm going to try to write the next chapter longer but I do have ideas for fourth year :)

Stay tuned!

And review, cuz that boosts my mojo and helps me write faster… Just saying


	12. Hannah's Sorting

A/N: I apologize for the lateness. I only recently obtained an idea of what to do for this story so yeah.

**DISCLAIMER: I used some lines from Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. They don't belong to me, just like Harry and the gang doesn't.**

Chapter 12

The last weeks of summer rushed by. The Potters, with Hermione and her parents went to Diagon Alley to get the childrens' school supplies. Harriet was most excited, seeing as it was her first year. She ran from one place to another, barely standing still long enough to get measured for some robes.

Everyone was currently stuffed in Madam Malkin's shop while all the children got measured.

"Madam Malkin," Lily interrupted the witch while she was measuring Harry. "Harry also needs dress robes."

"Ah yes, with what's going on this year, he certainly will." She said knowingly, which annoyed the kids as they were out of the loop.

Hermione's mom suggested they go find dresses for Harriet and Hermione in one of London's muggle stores, because they might have a bigger selection.

"How come I don't get a pretty dress?" whined Hannah.

"Well sweetie it's because there is going to be a dance at school next year but only 3rd years and up gets to go." Lily explained gently, not mentioning the fact that technically the dance was for 4th years and up.

"But I want a pretty dress too!" Hannah whined. Because she was the baby of the family, she had occasional tantrums when she didn't get what she wanted.

"Alright princess, calm down, you can get a dress too." James told her.

The group decided to split up then, with the girls going dress-shopping and the boys – to check out brooms and pranks.

"Dad, just look at that Firebolt! It's calling to me!" Harry exaggerated. Sirius and James chuckled at his antics.

"Son, your birthday has already passed, maybe for Christmas." James replied.

They managed to go to Zonko's joke shop and stock up on ammo before the girls returned with their dresses.

"What else do we have to get?" James asked Lily.

"Well, we need books for everyone," Lily consulted the school letters. "As well as a wand and pet for Hannah."

At that moment, Harriet shouted "Luna!" and ran to her best friend.

Luna was a small, pale girl with long, blonde hair, so light that they looked almost white. She had a long pointed nose, a dreamy expression in her gray eyes and her wand tucked behind her ear.

"Hello Harriet," she spoke in a quiet, almost ethereal tone. A small smile graced her lips. "Have you done all your shopping already? Daddy said that the Wrackspurts are going to wake up soon and disturb the shoppers."

"No, but we only have to get our books and Hannah's wand." Harriet replied. "Are you done with your shopping? Do you want to join us for ice cream after Ollivander's?"

"That would be lovely," Luna's father, Xenophillius Lovegood, replied with a kind smile. "We also left the book buying until the end. Save the best for last."

The pair joined the already large group and the adults greeted Xenophillius, enquiring about the newest articles in the Quibbler. They all agreed it was probably not true, but decided to not judge him on his eccentric ideas, because they did live in a Magical world, where nearly everything was possible.

"Alright, Flourish and Blotts!"announced Sirius. "Kids, only 3 books that are not for school."

"Hermione, that means you too." Jean teased her daughter, the renowned bookworm.

In the end, nobody exceeded the three book limit and they moved on to Eeylops Owl Emporium, where Hannah decided she wanted a cat. In the end, she picked an adorable calico cat who immediately liked her.

"NOW is it time to get my wand?" she asked with a hint of impatience.

"Yes munchkin, NOW it's time to get your wand." Sirius told her.

They walked into Ollivander's where the man in question was sitting at his desk, writing something on parchment.

"Oh, hello." He said in his quiet tone, not unlike Luna's. "Hannah Potter. I knew this day would come. Come forward, my dear, and let me measure you."

He flicked his wand and measuring tapes of all sizes started measuring one limb after another.

After a few moments, he walked over to his shelves and picked a wand from a box that was quite high up.

"I can recommend this, a fir wand. The length is eight and one-half inches long. This wand's core is centaur tail hair. Try it out." You could see the excitement in his eyes.

Hannah swished it and a flower vase fell of its podium.

"No, no, no, that won't do." The man mumbled to himself as he took the wand away.

"I'm not sure, but consider this, a simple cherrywood wand. The length is eight and one-half inches long. The core consists of griffin feather." He said as he handed her yet another wand.

She flicked it and a paper on his desk lit on fire.

"No, definitely not," he said as he snatched the wand from her.

"Perhaps this, a plain pine wand. It is just a bit over nine and three quarters inches long. It has a core of dragon heartstring."

As soon as Hannah held the wand in her hand, there was no doubt about it. This was the one. She felt a warm tingly from holding the wand, but not so that it was uncomfortable. Her auburn hair whirled around her as she felt the power of the wand.

"My, that is a powerful wand." Ollivander remarked. "You will be able to do great magic with this wand, young lady."

"Thank you." Hannah replied kindly.

The Potters payed for the wand and they all left the shop.

"I can't believe I finally have a wand!" Hannah exclaimed. "I am finally going to Hogwarts!"

"Yes, you are." Agreed Lily. "But how about some ice cream after a long day of shopping?"

Everyone agreed on that and went to Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlour for scoops.

In the remaining time, Harry and Hermione spent a lot of time with Draco, sometimes doing homework that was assigned at the end of 3rd year, sometimes fooling around and playing quidditch in the Potters' back yard or playing mild pranks on each other.

But the time passed nonetheless and all of a sudden, it was September first, the day they were going to Hogwarts. The morning was very frantic.

Hannah kept running around the house in excitement, saying "I'm going to Hogwarts! I'm going to Hogwarts!" Harry and Harriet finished packing their trunks and brought them downstairs near the door, so it would be easier to carry them to the boot of the car.

"Hannah, honey, calm down." Lily stopped her when she came into the kitchen. "I know you're excited but you should eat some breakfast. I made your favorite, French toast!"

Hannah nodded and went to the dining room to join her siblings, who were already eating.

"Okay guys, we should leave in about half an hour, in case there is traffic." James announced. "Harry, did you tell Hermione that we will be taking her to King's Cross today?"

Harry nodded, and continued eating.

"One last thing," James said, "I'm going to give each of you 3 galleons, just in case you get hungry on the train. Don't lose it." The three minors nodded. "Harriet, Harry, do you have your pocket money for Hogsmeade?"

"Yeah, dad," Harry answered.

"Me too," added Harriet.

The family quickly ate, chatting between bites, when the clock rang 10.

"Alright! We have got to go!" Lily ushered them to the car before waving her wand at the dirty plates and they levitated to the kitchen sink where they washed themselves. "Everyone take what you need! Harry, go get Hermione! And help her carry her trunk."

Everyone moved quickly and effectively and 5 minutes later all 6 were in the car, on the way to the station.

They got there in no time, because there wasn't any traffic along the way. However, King's Cross was packed with both Magical and Muggle alike.

"Let's move quickly, I hope our platform will be less crowded." Lily said as she led them toward Platform 9 and ¾.

"Harry, you first." She instructed. "Hermione, you can go next. Harriet after and we'll go with you, Hannah."

The youngsters ran through the wall in that order with Lily, James and Hannah bringing up the rear.

As soon as you entered the hidden platform, you could hear the chatter. There were students hugging each other and screaming because they hadn't seen each other all summer, parents consoling first years about what it will be like and smaller siblings, too young to go to Hogwarts, whining about how they wanted to go as well. It could be called a circus, because the wizards who decided to go through the platform from the Muggle side were dressed in what they thought Muggles wore, so you could see many mismatched outfits, plenty of bright colors and funny hats on people's heads.

"Kids, go find compartments and settle in. Then meet back here for goodbyes so we don't have to hunt you down." Said James. "Hannah, we'll settle you in on your own so it will be easier to make friends."

"Will I make friends?" She asked nervously.

"I am positive you will." Lily assured her. "Just look at your dad and Sirius. They met on the train and they still haven't gotten sick of each other."

They had a giggle about that as James exclaimed in offense. "Oi!"

As soon as they got her settled, they went back to the platform. After some last hugs and kisses, Lily told them "Harry, no more pranks like last year. I don't want to get any more letters home," to which James secretly low-fived Harry. "Harriet, I know you're excited about being on the Quidditch team, but don't forget about school and your studies. Hermione, keep the boys in line. And Hannah, study, make friends, and just enjoy Hogwarts. If you miss home, I'm only a letter away. Speaking of letters, I want you to send me one tonight, after you get sorted. Do you have pens and parchment?"

Hannah nodded. "But what if I get sorted into Slytherin? Will you disown me like Sirius' mum disowned him?"

James bent down so that he was at her height. "Sweetheart, we will never disown you. We are your parents and we love you. Sirius' mum was just an awful and prejudiced cow. You could end up in Hufflepuff and we would still love you." Lily smacked him lightly on the head. "Not that Hufflepuff is a bad house," he quickly amended.

A bell rang out signaling that there were 5 minutes left before the train departed.

"Okay, one last hug from everybody! Now go before you miss the train!" Lily waved as the children quickly ran into the nearest of the compartments that they occupied. "We'll see you at Christmas!"

Both parties waved until they could no longer see each other.

Since the compartment they were using was Hannah's they all left, after promising to check up on her every once in a while.

Harriet left to sit with Luna and some of her other friends from Ravenclaw while Hermione and Harry went to their compartment.

When they got there someone else was already there.

"Draco!" Hermione exclaimed and went to hug him.

"Hey Herms," he replied while being held in an almost death grip, his voice muffled behind her hair.

When she let him go, Draco turned to Harry, giving him a one armed hug. "Hey man. How've you been?"

"Pretty good, though mum hasn't let me further than the mailbox since the Cup." Harry replied, returning the hug.

"I know what you mean. My mom kept me busy by giving me random chores inside the house. And that was _before_ the dance lessons." Draco scowled. "I mean, I get the fact that she wants to keep me safe and occupied but does she really think I have forgotten everything I learned when I was little?"

"Probably." Harry replied with a smirk. Draco weakly swatted at him. "And here I was, thinking that you, Draco Malfoy, were a smooth ladies man, with skills that have been passed down generations of Malfoys and a natural talent for dancing." He chortled.

"Oi!" Draco said, indignant. "I'll have you know that I am very smooth, and I do have talent for dancing. I just need a little practice sometimes."

"Oh yeah? I want to see you put your money where your mouth is. How about we have a little wager?" Harry suggested.

"What did you have in mind?"

"We each dance with Hermione right here, right now and she will declare one of us a better dancer."

"And what do we win?" asked Draco.

"How about the winner gets first dibs when asking girls to the dance?"

"Alright, you're on." The boys shook on it while Hermione looked on humorously.

"May I have this dance?" Draco asked, offering his hand to her. Hermione graciously took it and they waltzed for a few minutes in the compartment. Since it wasn't that big and the train was moving, they were a bit awkward.

When it was Harry's turn, they also waltzed, but while Draco was slightly stiff when moving, Harry was very flexible. He moved with the train, therefore not stumbling and making this dancing experience more pleasurable for Hermione.

"So, Hermione," Harry started, as they both sat down. "Who was the better dancer?"

"I'm going to say Harry." She announced.

"I demand a rematch!" Draco exclaimed.

"Why? So you can knock me into the chairs a few more times?" Hermione smirked.

"No," Draco blushed.

"Then Harry is the better dancer of you two."

They trio chatted until the train stopped and they got out in Hogsmeade.

They could hear Hagrid's voice booming. "Firs' years! Over 'ere! Firs' years!" They were quite vary of the giant, because in their first year he had obtained a dragon egg and hatched it in his wooden hut, which burned down as the dragon grew. Dumbledore had sent the dragon to a dragon camp in Romania but Hagrid occasionally mentioned how he missed his baby.

Hannah emerged from the train a little scared.

"Are you okay, Han? You look a little peaky. Did you get sick on the train?" Harry asked, crouching a little so he didn't tower over her.

"I'm fine," she said quietly, though her voice indicated that she was anything but. "And no, I did not get sick." She said determinedly.

"Okay, if you say so. To get to Hogwarts you have to go with Hagrid, he's the big guy over there, and he'll take you and the other first years with the boats. Go on, you don't want to be late." He gave her a little push in the right direction before walking over to his friends, who had been joined by Neville, Lisa and Mandy.

"Hey guys! Long time no see." Harry exclaimed as he hugged the girls and did the one armed hug with Neville because he was carrying some kind of plant.

"Hey Harry." Lisa greeted him in return. "Was that your little sister by any chance?" When he nodded, she said. "She looks just like you."

"Poor her." Mandy teased him.

"Oi! No mocking the Potter good looks." He said snootily. Everyone laughed at his antics; he was known for exaggerating.

Harry saw Harriet getting on a carriage a few yards in front of them and soon enough the 6 were sitting in their own carriage, slowly moving to the school.

When they reached the school, the crowds of students made their way to the Great Hall. A few minutes passed and then the first years walked in to the hall in 2 straight lines, waiting to be sorted. The table of teachers at the end of the hall eagerly looked on, but Harry thought that something, or rather someone was missing, though he couldn't quite put his finger on it.

Professor McGonagall brought out the sorting hat and as soon as she stepped away, it came to life and started singing.

" _A thousand years or more ago,_

_When I was newly sewn,_

_There lived four wizards of renown,_

_Whose names are still well known:_

_Bold Gryffindor, from wild moor,_

_Fair Ravenclaw, from glen,_

_Sweet Hufflepuff, from valley broad,_

_Shrewd Slytherin, from fen._

_They shared a wish, a hope, a dream,_

_They hatched a daring plan_

_To educate young sorcerers_

_Thus Hogwarts School began._

_Now each of these four founders_

_Formed their own house, for each_

_Did value different virtues_

_In the ones they had to teach._

_By Gryffindor, the bravest were_

_Prized far beyond the rest;_

_For Ravenclaw, the cleverest_

_Would always be the best;_

_For Hufflepuff, hard workers were_

_Most worthy of admission;_

_And power-hungry Slytherin_

_Loved those of great ambition._

_While still alive they did divide_

_Their favourites from the throng,_

_Yet how to pick the worthy ones_

_When they were dead and gone?_

_'Twas Gryffindor who found the way,_

_He whipped me off his head_

_The founders put some brains in me_

_So I could choose instead!_

_Now slip me snug about your ears,_

_I've never yet been wrong,_

_I'll have a look inside your mind_

_And tell where you belong!_"

Some of the first years were gaping at the singing hat as the rest of the school applauded.

"Did we look that tiny 3 years ago?" Draco whispered.

McGonagall unrolled a piece of parchment and read the names of the students.

"When I call out your name, you will put on the hat and sit on the stool," she told the first years. "When the hat announces your House, you will go sit at the appropriate table. And the hat's ruling is final." She looked over to Weasley. There had been rumors going around school in the beginning of first year that Weasley had gone up to Dumbledore and asked to be resorted. Even his mother had gotten involved but Dumbledore wouldn't budge.

"Ackerly, Stewart!"

A boy walked over to the stool, visibly trembling from head to toe, picked up the Sorting Hat, put it on, and sat on the stool.

"Ravenclaw!" shouted the hat.

Harry and the gang stood up along with the rest of the table, cheering on their first firstie.

"Baddock, Malcolm!"

"Slytherin!"

The table on the other end of the hall erupted into cheers. Harry could see Weasley cheering along with the rest of the House.

"Branstone, Eleanor!"

"Hufflepuff!"

"Cauldwell, Owen!"

"Hufflepuff!"

This went on for a while, while children in varying degrees of fright walked up to the stool. Then suddenly,

"Potter, Hannah!"

Hannah, though still peaky-looking, walked up to the stool determinedly, yanked the hat on her head and sat down. For several minutes she sat there, scrunching up her face, sometimes even shaking her head, while looking deep in concentration as she conversed with the hat. Finally, the hat seemed to give a resigned sigh before shouting

"Gryffindor!"

The Gryffindor table was immediately up and cheering for her. Harry, Harriet, Hermione and Draco were also up, applauding her.

Hannah smiled as she stepped down from the platform and let "Pritchard, Graham!" be sorted into Slytherin. She sat among her new housemates chatting amicably.

"Whitby, Kevin!" was the last to be sorted and as he walked over to the Hufflepuff table, Professor McGonagall carried the stool and Hat away and the Sorting was over.

Dumbledore stood and looked over the Great Hall. "I only have 2 words for you now. _Dig in!_"

As he said that, food appeared on the long tables, which caused some of the first years to gasp in surprise, and everyone started eating.

After a delicious feast, the plates disappeared and Dumbledore stood up to say a speech again.

"Now that you all have been fed and watered, I would like to tell you what event is going to happen at Hogwarts this year."

This got the students murmuring amongst themselves.

"The Tri-Wizard Tournament!" Dumbledore announced with a flourish. "Students eligible to participate will arrive from Beauxbatons and Dumstrang by late October and 3 Champions, one from each school will be chosen on Halloween." His eyes twinkled as he observed that every eye in the hall was eagerly trained on him. "But, more about that when the time comes. You must go to bed to get plenty of rest for the day of studies ahead. Off you trot!"

Students shuffled towards the exit and, led by Prefects, went to their dorms.

A/N: I hope you liked it! Sorry I made you wait that long, but with huge projects that lasted all year, extracurriculars, which meant I got home at 8/9 at earliest, and tumblr, I didn't have a lot of time or energy to write. I am hoping to possibly finish one of my stories at least by the end of summer so fingers crossed!

I love reviews, tell me what you think might be the huge plot twist in this story! Favorite, subscribe and follow me on Tumblr and twitter and youtube where I talk about my updates!


	13. Flights and Felons

A/N: Hi. I'm back. I graduated from High School.

Chapter 13

For weeks after Dumbledore's announcement, the Tournament was all anyone could talk about. Harry, Hermione and Draco were no exception. They imagined what tasks the Champions from each schoo were going to be put through, who the Hogwarts Champion would be and listened to the Weasley twins' harebrained schemes to trick whomever would pick the Champion as they were a couple months too young. Harry and Harriet kept reminding Hannah that their parents would ground her until she was Dumbledore's age if she even thought to ask one of the upper-years to put her name and that she was only a first year and probably wouldn't be able to do the tasks set for 6th and 7th years. She thought it sounded glamorous and fun, though she was ignoring the high number of deaths that had occurred during the course of the Tournament.

The teachers were not to be deterred by the upcoming event at Hogwarts. Flitwick, McGonagall, and especially Snape cracked down on homework, saying that they were being prepared for their OWL exams the following year. The trio spent most evenings browsing the books in the library and writing essays.

"I can't do this anymore!" Harry exclaimed to the other two a few days into this routine. "I need to feel the wind in my hair, the sun on my face. I'm going to the Quidditch Pitch to fly around for a bit!"

"Harry, stop being such a drama queen." Hermione said without looking up from her essay. She had written nearly twice as much than Flitwick asked. Draco snorted. "Give me 5 minutes and we can all go, yeah? I have to write down my last few sentences. How about you Draco?"

"I finished my essay 5 minutes ago but I found this really interesting part about a wizard who-"

"Okay, sure," Harry sat back down, crossing his arms against his chest and pouting. "I think I have to write my conclusion as well."

Mere minutes later, Lisa Turpin came by their table and sat in the empty seat next to Draco.

"Hey, are you lot doing the Charms essay? I am 3 inches too short." She bit her lip.

"Yeah, I'm done with mine. Let me have a look at yours, maybe we can squeeze in some details." Draco held out his hand for her essay, which she gave him.

"Thanks Draco!"

Hermione was still scribbling madly but she looked up at Harry, just for a second, caught his eye and wiggled her eyebrows over to the pair hunched over Lisa's essay, and winked. Harry grinned briefly before returning to his essay as well.

The only thing that could be heard for a while was Draco muttering advice on her essay to Lisa. "You could write that there… and maybe add in a little about the spell's properties somewhere here… repeat that at the end, just in different words… yeah, I think that should do it."

"Oh, thank you Draco!" Lisa hugged him and started copying the original essay with Draco's comments on a new sheet of parchment in a slightly larger handwriting.

"Well, I think I'm done with the essay. Harry?" Hermione looked over to him.

"Yeah, I'm finished. Let's go flying now?" He asked her while packing his books in his bag.

"Yep. I just have to stop by the Tower to grab my broom. Draco, Lisa, you coming?" Hermione turned to them.

Lisa shook her head without looking up. "Sorry, Mione, can't right now. Maybe next time, yeah?"

Draco decided to stay as well. "I'll stay and help Lisa with her essay. You go on."

Harry nodded and he and Hermione left.

"Aren't they adorable?" She said almost as soon as they closed the Library doors. "I bet he's going to ask her to the Ball."

"Wait, what ball?" Harry asked, scrunching his forehand in confusion. "Nobody told me there's going to be a Ball."

"I read up on the previous Triwizard Tournaments. There's always a Yule Ball just before the Christmas hols." She told him with just a smidge of smugness.

"All right smarty-pants. But why do you think he's going to ask her? Not that there's anything wrong with Lisa…" He hastily added, not wanting to insult Hermione's closest female friend.

"Did you see how he helped her with her essay? When has he been that thorough when you, Neville, Terry, Morag, Su or even Padma asked him for help?" She looked at him pointedly.

"You do have a point. But does she even like him?"

"Well, let me put it this way. I was sitting there and she went and asked Draco for help." She grinned. "They'll be a couple no later than the Easter break."

"Are you the Hogwarts matchmaker then? I think Brown and Patil from Gryffindor might want to fight you for that title." He teased her with an easy smile and his eyes twinkled mischievously.

She jokingly shoved him. "Oh sod off. I'm not trying to get anybody together," except I wouldn't mind if we did "I just think that they look adorable as a couple."

"Okay, Mione," Harry conceded as they reached the entrance to their common room.

The eagle statue came to life "Give me food, and I will live; give me water, and I will die. What am I?" It asked in a droning voice.

"Fire." Harry answered. The statue nodded and a bit of wall opened up to admit them.

"That was quick," Hermione looked at him incredulously.

Harry's cheeks turned pink. "Yeah, well, I may have bought a book of riddles over the summer and read it at least a dozen times. It's kind of stupid, I know."

"Harry, that's not stupid. That's pretty funny, but it's smart." She smiled at him. "Now come on Riddler, we still have a couple hours of sunlight and I want to get some flying in before curfew."

"Meet down here in 5?"

"Yep."

The both came down with their brooms and in a change of clothes, but Hermione had also tied her hair in a ponytail.

"Last one to the pitch has to add the grossest ingredients in Potions for a month!" Hermione said before running off with her broom and a smile on her face.

"Not fair! I'm going to get you for that!" Harry shouted as he ran after her, much to the amusement and annoyance to their fellow Ravenclaws, some of whom were relaxing, others – studying.

By the time they made it down to the pitch, they were both a bit winded from the fair distance between the school and the Quidditch pitch.

"Ha!" Hermione exclaimed when they reached the pitch. "I won! No – more – slugs – for me!"

"Yeah yeah, let's see if you can do as well on a broom." Harry stuck his tongue out.

"Hello! Youngest player in – what was it? – a CENTURY!" She gestured to herself melodramatically.

"Well, remember who taught you all those skills, Herms…" Harry winked at her, reminding her that it was Harry, indeed, who taught her how to fly for the first time. It was his first proper broom. He ran over to her house the minute the Potters got home after buying it. He was so excited and he wanted to fly on it together with her for the first time. She had held on for dear life, despite the fact that they weren't higher than the Potter's house.

He got on the broom and hovered a foot about the group for a few moments before sticking his hand out to her. "How about it? For old time's sake? You know I'd never let you fall…"

She smiled at him, seeing that excited 8 year old boy in his eyes. "Sure, Harry. Let's do it. But after this, how about a one-on-one Snitch chase?"

"You're on, Minnie," He grinned, using his childhood nickname for her, and landed so she could get on the broom behind him. She clasped her hands around his waist and they set off.

Harry had certainly improved in his flying since that first time. He flew straight up and very fast, then did a few loop-de-loops, which reminded her of a roller coaster at a muggle amusement park.

The sound of her laughing and whooping in joy was like music to his ears. He smiled to himself as he continued to do the crazy stunts that made her happy.

He wanted to try out a move he'd seen at the World Cup. The Wronski Feint, made famous by the Bulgarian seeker, Viktor Krum.

"Hermione, hold on tight," He told her and she did just before he dipped the broom almost completely vertical and flew straight to the ground.

"Harry…" Hermione's voice was nervous. She didn't doubt his skills but this was pushing it. Her arms tightened around his waist. "Pull up!" she yelled over the wind when they were 30 feet above the ground. "Pull up now!" she yelled again as they got even closer. "Harry!" She screamed in his ear.

They were about 4 feet from the ground when he finally pulled up and straightened the broom out parallel to the ground before Hermione's death grip loosened.

"You idiotic moron! Why would you do that? We could have crashed into the pitch like bugs on a windshield!" She smacked his arm with one hand while still holding onto his waist with her other arm.

"Mione, I promised you I wouldn't let you fall. And that was fun, wasn't it?"

She glared at him for a minute. "If you do that again without warning me, I will hex you till next Sunday!"

"I am sorry for scaring you, though." He apologised. "I thought you were having fun."

"All right," she conceded. "I was, and that move was amazing! You are almost as good as Krum!"

"Really? You think I have a chance a making the Quidditch Team?" He asked hopefully.

"With moves like that? Your tryout will be a piece of cake. It's a pity that they're only next year."

She hopped off and got on her own broom. "How about that one-on-one? I may not be Krum, but I have some wicked moves up my sleeve." She teased him.

"Bring it," He challenged her.

They played for close to two hours, almost missing curfew and being locked out for the night.

They made their way up to the Tower exhilarated and relaxed. The eagle asked them another riddle. "Throw it off the highest building, and I'll not break. But put me in the ocean, and I will. What am I?"

"A wave." Hermione answered after a minute.

The eagle nodded and let them in their common room.

The room was bussing with people and many simultaneous conversations. It seemed like each year group had their own corner in the room. The 7th years were sitting comfortably by the fire, the 6th years not far from them. The rest of the Ravenclaw 4th years were sitting in a corner of the room by the windows on comfy blue couches, surrounded by pieces of parchment and books.

"Hermione!" Padma exclaimed when she saw the approaching figures. "Harry!"

"Mate, why were you out so late? Didn't you read the Prophet this morning?" Terry Boot asked Harry.

"No, why?" He asked, perplexed. "What's happened?"

"Apparently, some high security prisoner escaped from Azkaban last night." Anthony explained.

"What?" Hermione's jaw almost dropped to the ground. She knew very well that no one had ever escaped from Azkaban. In fact, many of the prisoners there were there because of James and Sirius.

"Yeah, the article mentioned that most of the high security prisoners used to be _his_ supporters." Terry continued. Him being Riddle aka Voldemort.

"They had her mug shot on the front page. I have the paper in my bag. Let me go get it." Terry told him and ran up the stairs to the dorm, taking two steps at a time. He was back a short minute later.

"There she is." He handed the paper to Harry and Hermione. The woman in the picture looked wild, almost feral, with shifty eyes that didn't look like they contained a pinch of sanity. Her hair was big and it looked like it hadn't been combed or cleaned in over a decade, with debris sticking out everywhere.

"I read about her when I wanted to find out more about the Wizarding war. She tortured many people into insanity. That's why the Janus Thickey Ward is so full now. The victims are still there." Hermione somberly explained.

"She also has a pretty high body count. That's why there are fewer people at Hogwarts now than ever before. She wiped out several noble wizarding families. The Bones almost have no one besides Susan and her aunt. The McKinnons, even the Weasleys lost many relatives. She is one of the most dangerous Deatheaters. I heard she was his right hand."

"Does it say why she broke out? Why now? Why not sooner when she still might have had some sanity in her?" Harry asked staring at her haunting eyes. "Not that I'm complaining about her not escaping earlier, but crazy people are more dangerous, especially after, like, 15 years at Azkaban."

"I think there was something on the second page." Terry looked over Harry's left shoulder while Hermione was reading over his right. "I think this is it. 'The escaped prisoner was claimed to be mumbling a sort of mantra for weeks before her escape. One of the guards near her cell claims to have heard her saying derogatory statements towards groups of people; however the officer did not catch a specific name of someone who the criminal might be targeting. The current location of the escapee is unknown.' So that's that then."

"Wait a second, here's something! 'The prisoner was first incarcerated in November of 1981 by two Aurors, J. Potter and S. Black, shortly after Potter's victory over Voldemort (née Thomas Riddle). She was captured near Longbottom Manor after a grueling battle between the Auror forces and the prisoner's husband, brother-in-law and accomplice Bartemius Crouch Jr., all of whom died in the final struggle. It is possible that the convict could be targeting the very people who apprehended her 14 years ago and their families. However, the DMLE is not rejecting the possibility that she might try to go after her remaining family; sisters Narcissa Malfoy (née Black) and Andromeda Tonks (née Black) and any cousins, nephews, nieces or other relatives that have resulted from those unions. The DMLE encourages all civilians to be on their guard and notify the Ministry if they spot the dangerous criminal anywhere. The Muggle minister and law enforcement authorities will also be informed."

The group stayed quiet for a while. Both Harry and Draco realized that they were in the most danger from the felon. They shared a look of understanding; this year would be different than the others and certainly more dangerous.

The world wasn't safe from Bellatrix Lestrange any longer.

A/N: So yeah, I'm back. I have pretty good ideas for this story. I will try to update more often, however, I have other priorities in my life (getting a job, university, driver's ed, friends, family…)

I appreciate your reviews, views, favorites and alerts. Thank you for staying with me and I love you all :)


	14. The Triwizard Tournament

Chapter 14

The next morning Harry woke up with a headache. At first he couldn't remember what had happened the previous evening and then it came back to him. Flying with Hermione and then finding out about Bellatrix Lestrange escaping from Azkaban. He had talked to Draco before they went to bed and they had both agree that they have to protect the girls from now on, meaning Hermione, Harriet, Hannah, and Harry had included Lisa as well, at which Draco turned very pink and promptly excused himself to go to sleep. That only confirmed Hermione's theory about Draco fancying Lisa.

He slowly dragged his feet out of bed and put on his glasses, squinting at the sunlight streaming through the window. By the time he got changed and freshened up, Draco had woken up as well.

"Hey mate," He said, still groggy from sleep.

"Hey man," Harry replied, "You couldn't sleep either?"

"Tossed and turned all night. This is some serious shit isn't it?"

"Yeah, it is. What are we going to do?"

"We have to take it one day at a time, I guess. Try to protect Harriet, Hannah, Hermione and…"

"And Lisa as well." Harry smirked.

"Yeah, Lisa." Draco smiled.

"So you like her?"

"Yeah, I do. But I don't know what I'm going to do about this and her and ugh. Everything is such a mess now. Why did Bellatrix have to be born?"

"Good question. But mate, Lisa's a great girl, what's your deal?"

"I can't – I don't – I don't know what's going to happen with Bellatrix. I don't want to put her in danger."

"Draco, listen to me. Lisa's fine. You haven't done anything to her, neither has Bellatrix, and she isn't going to do anything. Because we are safe here in Hogwarts and I doubt that Padfoot or Moony or Prongs would let anything happen to the girls or us. I'll write my dad a letter, if he hasn't sent one to me by breakfast, asking him for advice on what to do, okay man? Everything will be fine." Harry pacified Draco so he doesn't have a panic attack about this.

"Yeah, it will be. We'll be fine. Erm, thanks, Harry." Draco stuck his hand out for a handshake. Harry took it and it turned into those one-armed guy hugs. Both of them awkwardly cleared their throats after they let go of the hug.

"I'm going to…" Draco pointed to the bathroom and kept walking, Harry nodded if only to convince himself that Draco will be fine.

Harry walked downstairs to the Common room and waited for someone else to come down. He perused the bookshelves and picked out something mindless just to occupy his brain from drifting to unpleasant images and possibilities.

"Hey early bird," Hermione greeted the lone boy as she descended her own tower. "What are you doing up so early?"

"Couldn't sleep," he told her as she sat next to him on the couch.

"Last night still on your mind?" She asked sympathetically.

"Yeah. Draco's almost freaking out, and I'm still not sure what I can and should do. I feel like I have to protect Harriet and Hannah and you-"

"Harry," she cut him off by grabbing his hand, which surprised him. "You don't have to protect me. I am a big girl and I can take care of yourself. I'll help you protect Hannah and Harriet, if it comes to it."

"Hermione, what happened at the World Cup was child's play compared to what the Wizarding War was like. What if it happens again? What if it's worse? I can't lose you. You're my best friend." He hugged her very tightly. She could feel that he was barely holding it together. That's what his worst nightmare was; losing her.

"Harry, you're not getting rid of me. I've been around since we could barely walk, and I'm going to be around until we can barely walk, until we're older than Dumbledore. You're my best friend too, Harry." She hugged him with all her heart. She couldn't stand when the person she cared about most was hurting so much about a possibility. A very real possibility but a distant one. "Look, I'm sure your parents have sent you a letter and all you have to do is wait and let the owl deliver it to you. Come on," she got up and offered him her hand. "Let's go to breakfast. I couldn't possibly stand Snape without some chocolate-y support."

He cracked a smile at her love for sweets, despite her parents being dentists, and followed her to the Great Hall, not letting go of her hand once.

Draco joined them a few minutes later. He looked calmer and more composed than before.

"Hey mate," Harry greeted him between bites.

Draco smiled and sat opposite them. "So, Herms, what do you think of yesterday's paper?" He asked it casually but under the surface you could tell he was on edge.

"Well, I think that this is the start of something new, something that we can't even imagine. We will have to be careful, what with you being related to her and Harry being James' son."

"She is certifiably insane from what my dad has told me about the last War. She has virtually no conscience and doesn't feel remorse, but she is driven. If she thinks it will impress her master, or whoever she works for now, she'll do it regardless of the consequences." Harry said.

"Well, it's not like she's going to be here tomorrow. We still have time to figure out what we're going to do." Hermione added, noticing Draco fidgeting, which he only does when he's truly nervous about something. "Let's enjoy breakfast and decide how we're going to make it through Snape's lesson first."

Soon they were joined by Lisa, Padma and Anthony, who were talking about a recently invented spell and Bellatrix was forgotten.

Nearing the end of breakfast time, many owls flew into the Great Hall to deliver letters and packages to students from their parents and Harry was one of them. The Potter family owl, Hermes, was carrying three separate letters, each addressed to the respective child.

Harry took the letters from the owl, fed it a piece of bacon and called his sister over. "Harriet! Mom and dad sent letters!" When she walked over, he handed her Hannah's letter as well. "On your way back, hand this to Hannah, would you?"

"You're so lazy Harry," She stuck her tongue out at him, but gave the letter to her younger sister.

Harry opened his letter and read through it before handing it to Hermione and Draco.

"_Dear Harry (and probably Hermione and Draco too)_," the letter read, "_I understand you're worried about the recent news in the paper. I can assure you that, even though the wicked witch of the west has escaped from Azkaban, you are safe in Hogwarts with Dumbledore. Don't worry about things that don't concern you just yet. Your father said that the Auror department is working on finding her. Sirius is one of the main Aurors on the case, which means she's going down. We can talk more about it later with a Firecall if you have any questions. But for now, lay low, support Neville (you know why) and study hard. The Triwizard Tournament is just around the corner, so look forward to that and stay out of trouble. I don't want to get any more letters from Flitwick saying that you've blown something up or invented a new curse to make people who don't know what they're talking about spout gibberish or some nonsense like that. Send me a letter more often than once a month, Harry James Potter, or the next letter you get from home will be a Howler. _

_Love, _

_Mum._

_Ps. Harry, this is your Dad. I intercepted this before your mom sent it. Please do create a spell that makes people spout gibberish. That would be hilarious. Keep wreaking havoc on Hogwarts, I'm sure Filch needs something to do." _

"So, how's that curse coming?" Draco teased Harry.

"I wouldn't know, I thought you were responsible for the research." He retorted.

"Well, this is good then. Sirius is on the case and you know how determined he is. If anyone can do it, he can." Hermione reassured everyone.

"I'm sure that's the case, then," Harry agreed with her, not wanting to instil doubt and fear into everyone.

The week passed uneventfully with no news about Bellatrix, which was simultaneously a blessing and a curse, but the atmosphere lightened at Hogwarts after Harry and Draco pranked Weasley and some other Slytherins at dinner by bewitching their dessert into flying away from them when they tried to bite into it. However, that wasn't all they did to the tarts and pastries. When the Slytherins had finally gotten a hold on their dessert and taken a bite, they all turned into little green canaries for a minute and then turned back to their regular selves, though now fuming.

Many people were tweeting at the group of Slytherins even weeks after the prank.

Of course, Weasley had had it and tried to get his revenge by duelling Harry and Draco. What he didn't account for was his piss-poor aim and he ended up sending Hermione to the Hospital Wing because he shot a _Densaugeo _at Harry and missed. Her front teeth were growing at an incredible rate and her eyes teared up as she ran to Madam Pomfrey.

Luckily Professor McGonagall stepped in just before Harry and Draco were about to hex Weasley to next Sunday. He received two months' worth of detention with Professor Sprout, who was known to give out less appealing tasks during detentions and Weasley didn't like Herbology as it was.

Hermione returned just in time for lunch and she looked happy, as if she hadn't just been cursed. She sat down next to Harry and Draco, still grinning but keeping mum on the reason for her glee.

"Hermione, what's going on? Why are you grinning like a maniac?" Draco asked, squinting at her. "Did Weasley cast something else at you while you were walking away?"

"No, Draco, he didn't. I am just very pleased with the outcome of his spell. I think this might be the first useful thing he's ever done." She told him, her smile never wavering.

"So what'd he do that made you so happy?" Draco asked again.

Harry observed her carefully, looking at her teeth, which were affected by Weasley's spell. Her front teeth looked different, smaller than they used to be, pre-spell. They finally looked like they fit in her mouth, instead of looking like they were too big for her. "Hermione, did you shrink your teeth?"

"No, Potter, she left them as Weasley cursed her." Draco sassed him and Harry threw a roll at him.

"Oh shut it you wanker, I meant did you shrink them more than you were supposed to, you know, to get them back the way they were."

"My, hasn't someone been reading the Adventures of Sherlock Holmes," Hermione smiled at him, a different kind of smile, an appreciative one.

"Maybe he just has your face ingrained in his mind." Draco muttered so quietly that only Harry heard. The boy in question turned his head to his blond friend with an expression between being furious, embarrassed and incredulous.

"What was that, Draco?" Hermione obviously hadn't heard him.

"Oh nothing, just that I was saying how I wouldn't_ mind_ getting a helping of the potatoes." He said and asked Morag to pass them down.

Hermione nodded, appeased, and turned to Harry to ask him what she missed in Charms because of her short stay in the Hospital Wing.

October was ending and the leaves had already started falling when the representatives from other schools arrived. From a carriage that was being pulled by winged horses, a group of very pretty girls stepped out and hunched together to conserve heat because their thin silk uniforms weren't warm enough for autumn in Northern Scotland. Then a very large woman, even larger than Hagrid, stepped out of the carriage, which made Harry wonder how she fit in (_was it an undetectable extension charm_? He thought).

However from a dark and dreary ship many burly and scowling boys stepped out in heavy furs and dark red jumpers. Their teacher looked even more displeased to be there, if possible.

Dumbledore greeted both Headmasters of the sister schools warmly and welcomed them to Hogwarts. The Beauxbatons headmistress had some very peculiar and specific requests but the Durmstrang headmaster just stood silent, polite enough but not warm.

The guests were lead into the Great Hall for their Welcoming Feast and most of the Beauxbatons girls sat with the Ravenclaws, something Draco seemed quite pleased about, and the Durmstrang boys sat with the Slytherins.

After speeches, the actual meal, performances from the guests and the rather embarrassing Hogwarts song (_'Hogwarts, Hogwarts, hoggy warty Hogwarts…'_) Dumbledore stood up to speak once more.

"Now that we are all fed, watered and have been sufficiently entertained, I would like to begin the Opening ceremony of the Triwizard Tournament!" He was met with laud applause from every corner of the large room. "Mr. Filch, if you would bring out the Goblet." Filch shuffled out the side door and brought in a large gilded box that was certainly bigger than Dumbledore himself. "Thank you Mr. Filch."

Dumbledore then waved his wand and the gold casing fell away leaving an equally fancy goblet in its place.

"Mr. Crouch?" Dumbledore turned to an uptight-looking man in a bowler hat, pinstripe suit and a Hitler-moustache. "Would you like to do the honours?"

"Yes, thank you, Albus." He stood up from his seat at the Teacher's table and walked over to the Goblet. "This ancient artefact is what will choose the three Champions who will be participating in this Tournament. To make this competition as safe as possible, we have bewitched it to not accept any students who are not yet of age-" His next words were drowned out by a furious cry from most of the 6th and 5th year students, even some that were younger than that. "Silence!" He bellowed. "Now, as I was saying, the only way to try to be chosen by the Goblet is by writing your name and school on a piece of parchment and throwing it in the Goblet. Older students may not put in the names of younger students, as a joke or if those younger students asked them to. Your esteemed Headmaster shall put an age line around the Goblet to ensure that no one under 17 will be forced to participate because if the Goblet chooses your name, you are under magical oath to participate in the three events or you lose your magic." With that bomb, he sat down and observed the now quiet and shocked crowd of students looking up at him.

"Thank you Mr. Crouch." Dumbledore nodded to him. "Now students, the Goblet will be here until the Choosing ceremony tomorrow evening after supper, so you have plenty of time to drop your names, and ONLY your names, into it. Now, off to bed everyone, I expect tomorrow will be an exciting day for us all."

The students shuffled out of the Hall excitedly chatting with their friends. The Trio rolled their eyes at everyone's ideas about how to get their name in the goblet.

'_I might brew the Aging Potion. You know, I only need a couple drops because my birthday is in a few weeks._'

'_Maybe you could levitate the paper into the goblet!_'

'_I'm going to ask one of the 7__th__ years. Dumbledore doesn't have to know._'

"It's ridiculous that they think their grand plans are going to work." Hermione whispered to her boys.

"I bet that at least 10 people will be thrown out of the Age line around the Goblet tomorrow." Draco whispered back.

"You're on! I bet that it will be no less than 20 people." Harry shook Draco's hand and a bet was established.

"Loser has to prank the Weasley twins by Christmas." Hermione declared.

"Deal."

"Deal."

The loser was decided the next day when they observed 5 people flying out of the Age circle with white hair and white beards, each of them going in the Age circle surrounding the Goblet convinced that the person before them had made a mistake and that they were going to successfully drop their name in.

By dinner, only 8 people had been thrown from the Goblet.

"Well, both of you lost, so both of you have to prank them." Hermione told them, laughing at their slightly miffed faces.

They had already started discussing strategies when Dumbledore called for silence.

"Thank you. Now, students, this is the moment you've been waiting for – the moment we announce the three Triwizard Champions!" A roar of applause and cheering sounded in the Great Hall. "The Hogwarts Champion will be-" Dumbledore waited while the blue flames of the Goblet spit out a slightly burnt piece of parchment. "Cedric Diggory of Hufflepuff House!"

The whole Hufflepuff table was on their feet, cheering, stomping and congratulating Cedric as he made his way up to the podium and shook Dumbledore's hand before being directed to a side room.

"The Beauxbatons champion – Fleur Delacour!" Dumbledore repeated the process and more cheers were heard, this time from the Ravenclaw table where the Beauxbatons students were sitting. A very pretty blonde girl stood up and made her way up to the podium, shook Dumbledore's hand and disappeared into a side room like Cedric.

"The Durmstrang Champion is... Viktor Krum!" A burly and now less-scowling boy stood up and repeated the actions of those before him while his school mates cheered very raucously.

"Now that we have all of our three Champions, I would like to-" Dumbledore stopped speaking because the Goblet had lit up again and spit out a new piece of parchment. "Harry Potter of Ravenclaw house."

A/N: Harry's in deep shit again. I'm taking more time to write, which is fun. Please review and share if you liked it and tell me if you didn't like anything :)


End file.
